A Modern Cinderella Story
by DemonSaya
Summary: AU Once upon a time, Inuyasha was a janitor and Kagome was a politician's daughter. With an evil stepfather interfering in your life, how's a hanyou supposed to get his happy ever after?  InuxKag SanxMir maybe others later.
1. Prologue

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**A Modern Cinderella Story**  
By: DemonSaya

Prologue

_Once upon a time, in a far away land..._

Yeah, right. You all opened this probably expecting a carbon copy of every other Cinderella Story that has careened down the pike. In which our Prince falls in love with our darling little miss perfect, Cinderella. Well, this is NOT your average Cinderella Story, and I am NOT your average Narrator. So if that's what you're expecting, I suggest you put this book down and walk away.

Fast.

If, however, like me, you find yourself wondering what would happen if the time was changed, the gender roles were changed, and our Cinder Fella wasn't quite so 'perfect', read on. I'll spin this story.

It actually starts not too long ago at all. In fact, it was really only about ten years. See, most of you can remember back ten years. If not...maybe you're too young to be reading this.

Anyways, moving on. In the city of Washington D.C., a ten year old boy sits on the couch of his mother's large apartment, playing video games with his best friend. This boy isn't exactly like other boys. His hair is silver-white, and his eyes are bright gold. Rather than ears on the side of his head, like his friends, his are on top, covered in silver fur, much like those of a dog.

His name is Inuyasha.

To truly put our young friends future into perspective, you have to appreciate how he lived before his world was turned upside down and inside out.

Inuyasha's mother was the widow of a wealthy demon. Her name was Izayoi. She was a hard worker, and loved her only son dearly, buying almost whatever his little heart desired. Unfortunately for poor Inuyasha, she was also a business woman and spent the majority of her time away at work, running her multi-million dollar corporation.

Despite their nearly constant separation, they were close. His father had died shortly after he was born, so the only adults he knew were his mother and his baby-sitter, eighteen year old Kikyou. Periodically he saw his old brother, a full demon by the name of Sesshoumaru, but they weren't close, and never spoke.

Inuyasha was a sharp student, but he had a habit of isolating himself away from other students. His only real friend was a girl named Sango. Sango was short-tempered, but she had a good heart, and while the other students muttered about the weird Hanyou, Sango was the one that offered him half her peanut butter sandwich when Kikyou packed him sushi.

He had a healthy sized trust left to him by his father, but unfortunately, he could not touch it until he was eighteen years old. It was intended for him to go to college so that he could eventually become a productive member of society.

Our ten year old boy, however, never thought that far ahead. While he was bright, he didn't yet have the foresight in order to plan into the distant future. Eight years seemed like a long time, heck, sometimes, eight minutes did.

Like now.

"God, why isn't she HOME yet?!" Inuyasha huffed in frustration, pummeling Sango's character with a fervor that belied hours of practice and months of play. When the character finally went down with a ritualistic K.O., he threw his controller down and did a victory dance. "YES! I OWN YOU!"

Sango rolled her eyes and grabbed another potato chip. "Yeah, yeah. I don't have this game at home." She grumbled, munching the chip and peering down into her half-empty cola. "Just chill. It's just a date and your mom's a smart lady. Nothing to stress."

He crossed his arms, scowling. "It's not like I care if she remarries. She seems to think I need some male influence." His lower lip stuck out in an insolent pout. "I feel like I never see her, anymore."

Just then, the door clicked open and he launched himself from the couch, flying towards the door as fast as possible. "Mama!" He cried, then screeched to a halt, seeing a stranger with her. He looked at the stranger frowning, not liking the way the way he smelled, not liking the way this man was standing too close to be proper to her mother. Every instinct grated harshly against his nerves and he glared at the man. "Who's that?" He asked, pointing rudely.

Izayoi blushed, stepping inside, dropping to her knees. "You don't need to worry about him, darling. That's the man who took mommy to dinner. Now, where's Kikyou?" She straightened, looking towards the kitchen, desperately. "You're supposed to be in bed by now..." She saw Sango sitting on the couch with a bag of chips and six pack of coke on the coffee table. A sigh escaped her. "Tell me that's not all you ate?"

"We ordered pizza." He said, wrinkling his nose. "Kikyou made that sushi crap again. It doesn't agree with my palate." He looked back at the man, who was looking down at him with disdain. "I don't like him." He said, looking back at his mother. "Make him go away."

Her cheeks darkened, and there was a flash in her eyes. "Sweety, mommy was inviting Mr. Kuroshii in for a drink. She wont take long, and I'll be up in a few minutes to tuck you in. Sango, you should go home."

"I have permission to sleep over." She offered, not really trusting the strange man that hadn't spoken since he'd entered the apartment. "Come on, Yash, let's go upstairs." She finally said, seeing that his mother was getting stressed and embarrassed. Sango had always had an uncanny ability to read adults. Even Izayoi Akimoto. "I got a new manga I wanna show you." She grabbed his t-shirt sleeve and headed upstairs.

He pulled his sleeve out of her hand and glared at her when they hit the stairs. "What the heck are you doing, Sango?!" He pointed back down towards the kitchen. "That guy is gonna do something!"

"We can eavesdrop from the stairs." She hissed, frowning. "Whoever he is, he feels funny. Like snail tracks. Kinda slimy." Her brow furrowed. "Why is your mom with him?"

"I don't really know. I think she's been spending too much time talking to our neighbor, crazy old woman..." He scowled. "She keeps talking about how I need a 'male influence', whatever that means. I have mama, and that's enough for me."

"You tell her this?"

"Of course I did. It's like she's desperate. She could do better than that...slime ball." He reached into his unusually creative vocabulary and scowled down the stairs. "He better not try anything on my mama..."

His mother's voice filtered upstairs. "I'm sorry about him. He's a little wary of strangers."

A laugh. There was something wrong with it. "You're his mother. He has a right to be." The voice sounded like it was trying to be soothing. It grated against Inuyasha's nerves.

"Why, Naraku, you almost sound like you have a boy of your own."

"I have."

"Really?" There was a twinge of excitement in her voice. Almost like she thought she'd found someone who could understand the stress of single child-rearing. "How old?"

"Ten. Like your boy." There was something about him that didn't make him comfortable. "Three quarter demon, but who's counting." A chuckle. His mother echoed the sound. "I had a nice time, Izayoi."

"Me, too." Inuyasha's heart crashed into his stomach. "We should do this again."

There was a long silence and Inuyasha was about to go downstairs and break up the party. Sango stopped him and started dragging him to his room when the sound of footsteps headed towards the stairs. They dove into their sleeping bags and pretended to have been flipping through the manga when the door opened and Izayoi peeked her head in.

"You're still up?" Her voice was a bit high pitched, and she seemed a little flushed and hurried.

Inuyasha didn't answer her. He just looked at her with a dead pan expression. "I don't like him." He repeated.

A splash of color splashed across her cheeks. "I do." She said pointedly. "I'm seeing him again tomorrow."

He jumped up. "Fine! But don't expect me to call him daddy! He's your boyfriend, not my father!" He turned his back to her, expecting her to bend to his will. The wind was knocked out of him when his mother spoke.

"I'm sorry you feel that way. But since you just as good as gave me permission, maybe I will marry him after all."

He froze and turned back towards her. There was a hard edge in his mother's voice and his heart fell. "Mama, he's not good for you! I..." Tears welled in his eyes. "He feels wrong and smells funny!"

"This isn't about me, Inuyasha! It's about you! Why don't you see that?!" She dropped to her knees, grabbing his arms. "You need a father!"

He looked at her, his face sad. A tear ran down his cheek and he wiped it away. "Fine. Whatever." He broke her grasp on him and lay back into his sleeping his bag, turning his back to her. "Goodnight." He said pointedly.

He heard her soft sigh and felt her lips gently press against his temple. "Goodnight, baby." She gently caressed his ears and left the room.

"You shouldn't be angry with her, Yash..." Sango said softly, facing towards him, seeing his pupils reflecting the scant light. "She's trying to do what's best for you."

He sighed. "Yeah, maybe she should worry more about herself." He muttered, looking away. "'Night Sango." He said, closing his eyes and pretending to go to sleep.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

It was a whirlwind courtship.

That was the only way Inuyasha could describe it. Over the next two months, Naraku wined and dined Izayoi every night. Izayoi, who was already thirty two, flowered under the treatment she received. Finally, in an extravagant ceremony, the two were married, and Inuyasha watched his mother take the final step away from him.

Naraku and his son, Onigumo moved in that day. Kikyou quit the next week, refusing to look after the other boy, or be anywhere near Naraku. The weeks that followed quickly made Inuyasha desperately wish that he could run away from home.

He was kicked from his sizable bedroom to the living room couch. His mother seemed unperturbed by the changes in her new spouse, saying that it was just Naraku getting used to the place. Inuyasha couldn't help but begin to resent his mother as much as her husband. Not his father.

The man insisted that Inuyasha call him dad, but he circumvented it completely by refusing to speak to the man directly. The pair had been married for nearly a year when Inuyasha noticed the bruises on his mother's delicate face.

The now eleven year old boy did not know what to do. He could see his mother was broken, no longer her same, cheerful self. She began drinking, and as a result, Inuyasha began catching the brunt of her frustrations. Naraku, also noticed that Inuyasha was an easy target. Inuyasha was given the lion's share of the chores, and when he failed to complete them to Naraku's standards, he found himself at the end of many fists and lashings.

Several beatings were so brutal, he didn't show his face for days, hiding in the broom closet.

By the time he was sixteen, his mother was taking about three different drugs for depression, and had developed full-blown alcoholism. Inuyasha was desperately looking for any way to escape his hell. But he couldn't leave his mother. So, he did what his mother's husband was evidentially too good for.

He fished his mother's head out of the toilet when she drank so much her body rejected it. He stroked her hair, and kissed her brow, tucking her lethargic body back into her bed. Then, one morning, he found her in bed, an open bottle beside her, beside that a bottle of booze. Both her wrists were slit, and her beautiful face, once so full of life, was gray with death.

And the sixteen year old boy grieved what had happened to the person who was his only family. Someone he loved more than life. A woman who had once been vibrant with the joy of life, had killed herself.

Naraku entered the room while Inuyasha knelt by the bed crying. The man didn't even mourn the woman. He just left, called police and an ambulance and poured himself a martini, staring across the buildings at the rising sun.

The bastard never shed a tear, never showed a drop of emotion.

Inuyasha stayed long enough for the funeral. Sango and the neighbors were there to support him, but his step-father was strangely absent. Inuyasha didn't really care why.

That man was the poison that had killed his mother.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

_AN: So, there's the Prologue. Always the hardest little bit to eke out. Ten-year old Inuyasha has a bit of an adult's mouth. I'm trying to keep this straddling somewhere between Inuyasha and Cinderella, which is actually harder than you may think. Next chapter is the 'present' time. Tell me what you think 3 Oh, P.S. There are several chapters of stories in the works. They aren't posted yet because I'm having trouble motivating myself to do them. This one's mostly happening because my husband bought me a laptop for my birthday, so I can chase kids and write at the same time. . ;_


	2. Chapter One

**A Modern Cinderella Story**  
By: DemonSaya

Chapter One

_Four years later..._

Inuyasha stretched his arms over his head, staring at the roof of the dingy apartment. It was dingy, but it was better than living with his step-father. Two years ago, when he 'came of age', he ran, going to the bank, intending on taking up Sango on that offer to go with him to travel the world.

Imagine his shock when he found out that a week before, his step-father and guardian had liquidated his account.

He'd been furious, had nearly gone to wring the money out of the bastard, but it would have done no good. So he packed his few remaining belongings and left. He was there one day, gone the next. He simply walked out on his old life and never looked back.

He was now twenty, older and 'wiser'. He'd been working a dead-end job in order to scrape up enough money for rent, now unable to go to college, or do anything else worthwhile with his life. Sango had tried to encourage him to go to the community college, but he couldn't find the heart. A part of him had died when his mother had.

On his days off, he found himself in the museums, since they were free, and had picked up sketching as an inexpensive hobby. He couldn't afford to eat out most days, but he kept his apartment stocked with peanut butter, jelly, bread, and ramen. Every now and then, Kikyou would come over for a visit and make him dinner, although her life was pretty much tied up with her own children. Sango would drag him out to an arcade once in awhile, but usually they just hung out at her dorm and played pool.

He did odd jobs around the building, worked at a private high school scrubbing toilets, eking out a living, even if it was a poor one. He didn't mind. He'd grown used to menial labor in the the years of living under Naraku's reign. At least his bosses didn't beat him. At least he didn't have to sleep with one eye open, wondering what was going to happen next.

He wasn't surprised to find out that Naraku was a sociopath. Onigumo had been turning into a carbon copy of the bastard, as well. He didn't miss living in the 'clean' environment of his mother's house bad enough to go back and deal with those idiots.

A car alarm went off out side his window and he sat up, glancing out of his window. Sango was getting out of her busted Toyota Celica, hitting the neighboring car in the process. She was swearing up a small storm from the way her lips were moving, and her body language seemed out of sorts. He sighed, getting off his futon and headed towards the door. He made it downstairs before she reached the entrance.

She looked at him, frowning. "You look like shit."

He scowled. "You don't look like a bowl of cherries, yourself." He snorted, holding the door open for her. They walked up the rather treacherous looking stairs together, staying quiet until they reached his apartment. "You didn't call. You _always_ call." He looked towards her, arching an eyebrow.

"Didn't know I was that predictable." She flopped down on the floor, rubbing her shoulders. "I got a message from Sesshoumaru today. Evidentially, he's wondering what happened to you." A fine eyebrow quirked. "You watching the news?"

"No more than I can help it." He confessed. He had seen entirely too much of his step-father's presidential campaign on the television, so he'd actually hurled it out the window two days before. "Why?"

She laughed. "So you don't know? A new candidate just stepped up. It's a woman. Not much political history. She was an army wife. I'll vote for her just to keep Naraku out of office." She snorted. "Some lady named Higurashi."

"Doesn't sound too American to me." He walked to the refrigerator and pulled out two cans of off-brand cola. "Here..." He handed it to her and flopped down against the wall next to her. "So, how's your brother?"

She looked down. "He's sick again." She said softly. She shook herself. "But that's not why I'm here." She jumped up. "Seeing as it is summer, I am doing the only logical thing. I've taken the next three days as vacation and I'm going to the Virginia Beach for the weekend. Care to join me?"

He grinned. "Naturally. It's the only reason there is to work as a janitor. I only have to spot clean during summer." Luckily, Kaede, his land lord didn't worry too much about the dollar amount he handed over for rent. He got the distinct feeling the woman padded his rent, anyways. "I'll let Kaede know I'll be out for the next few days." He glanced towards her. "Thanks. I need a vacation."

She smiled, nodding. "I figured."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The sun was warm, the waves were weak. Oh, well, you can't win them all.

Inuyasha looked out across the beach, enjoying the cleaner air, the warmth of the sun. Sango had joined a beach volleyball game, leaving him free to wander through the throngs of people, heading towards where he could hear the sounds of a band playing at full volume. Concerts were something he didn't get to do now that he was on his own. He couldn't afford to. The pull of the crowd screaming and dancing drew him over and he stood just outside the edges of the crowd, mildly surprised to find it was actually a well-known band.

He nodded his head to the beat, soaking up the emotions that were coming off the crowd. It was the music he listened to when he could afford a CD. It was rock, the music for the angry, angsty adolescent, and he still thrived on it.

He remained apart, yet part of the audience, watching as people sang along or danced to the music in the sand. Then, someone jostled him and he blinked, looking down at his shoulder level, seeing a girl had been shoved against him. Instinctively, he caught her shoulders as she regained her balance.

The girl was pretty. More than pretty. Her eyes were clear blue, her hair black as night. It was pulled into a high ponytail, which exposed her creamy neck. Girls were one of the places he'd always had trouble, he was never good at dealing with people, but girls gave him an especially large amount of trouble. He released her quickly when she regained her balance.

"Let's dance!" She shouted over the music. She didn't ask permission as she grabbed his hand and drug him into the crowd. "I was starting to think this would be a waste!"

Inuyasha was too stunned to object, letting her lead him into the center of the crowd, and she began dancing against him. He shrugged, letting his childhood dance lessons resurface and he grabbed her hand, spinning her once. He saw a surprised, yet pleased expression on her face as they began dancing. As the seconds ticked by, he found he was starting to enjoy himself. It came as a bit of a shock.

As the song died down, and applause erupted around them, he felt an awkward blush color his cheeks. He started to back away, and the girl grabbed his arm as the band started up again. Her face was lit up in a brilliant smile. "One more?"

He had two options, do it, or be a jerk. Option two was more pleasing at the moment. "I'd rather not." He snapped. "Where do you get off, pushing people around like that?"

She went from smiling to furious in less than two seconds. "Where do you get off, being an ass?!" She snapped back, giving him a slight shove. "Just screw off, then." She turned on her heal and disappeared into the crowd before he could do or say anything.

It was better that way. He fought his way out of the crowd, feeling claustrophobic. If one thing remained true to this day, he was not good at dealing with people. It was ninety percent of the reason he was working as a janitor. Minimal human contact.

When he broke free of the crowd, he saw Sango dancing on the outskirts of the group as well. When she spotted him, she grinned. "Music's hot!" She called. "Where have you been?"

He looked uncomfortable. He gestured over his shoulder. "Some crazy girl drug me in there to dance. I broke free as quick as I could." He shuddered. He saw a disappointed look on his friends face and scowled at her. "What?"

"The point of coming to the beach, Inuyasha, is to have copious amounts of fun. That includes dancing with strangers!" She said, throwing her hands up. "What was the problem? Did she have acne, a boil, smell funny?"

He shifted, frowning. "You know I don't like being in crowds like that." He muttered. Without another word, he started heading up the beach, heading towards the hotel. He needed some time alone.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Sweetheart, did you enjoy your party?"

The woman speaking had thick dark chocolate colored hair and pale blue eyes. She was only really only half paying attention. The rest of her attention was focused on some paperwork in front of her.

The girl on the bed looked up from the copy of Elle magazine she was flipping through and sighed. "It was nice." She said. It was a white lie. All she'd wanted was a quiet party with her family, not that ridiculous beach affair with the live band. Then, when she'd finally found someone who looked as alone as she felt, she tried to draw him in and the second he had a chance, he broke away and disappeared. "Thanks, mom." She smiled at her mother, trying not to let her disappointment show.

This is how Kagome Higurashi's life had been for the past several years, since her mother's political career had taken off. Once upon a time, they had been a close knit family. Then, her father ran off with his secretary, leaving her mother, a housewife, to fend for herself in order to support their family. She had been pregnant with Kagome's younger brother at the time.

Since then, their family was stretched rather thin. Her mother was desperately moving forward with her presidential campaign, while she and her brother were shoved into a Private academy nine out of twelve months. Their grandfather spent more and more time at the VA hospital, getting work done to extend his rapidly expiring life.

Kagome had friends, sure. But she wasn't what she would call close to any of them. She hadn't told any of them about the stranger on the beach who had been about the best dancer she'd ever met. She didn't even tell her mother. Speaking of whom...

The woman was smiling cheerfully. "I have your cotillion scheduled for next month. Hojo has offered to be your escort." The smile faltered a bit. "As is Onigumo Kuroshii." She turned back towards her computer. "I'm sure any number of other boys would be willing-"

"I'm not going with anyone. I don't need an escort. This is 2008, mom, and I'm a 16 year old woman-"

"Kagome, I've spent a lot of money for this-"

Kagome closed the magazine roughly and stood. "I'm going out." She said in an emotionless voice. "Don't worry, I'll have someone come with me." She heard her mother call out to her, but she was already out the door. She needed to find a quiet place. Some place where no one else would find her.

She found one of the ballroom doors cracked and threw it open. The room was dimly lit and the glossy hardwood, and there were lots of tables lined around the room. She pulled out her mp3 player and jammed the headphones into her ears, turning it on and pumping up the volume as loud as she could.

She kicked off her shoes and when the beat began, she began to move, starting off just swaying to the beat before she felt the beat take hold of her. The vocals began and she began singing. This was how she could wipe the ugliness of the day from her thoughts. Music cleansed the soul, dance would help her sweat out her frustrations.

One song bled into the next and she felt the tenderness of her feet mounting. It was something she was good at forgetting. Years of ballet training as a child had made it easy to tune out. She twirled on her toes, startled when she lost her balance and she expected to hit the hard floor, the feel of her skin scuffing and blood flowing.

Imagine her surprise when a hand caught her, pulling her back onto her feet. Her eyes snapped open and she found semi-irate golden eyes staring down at her. She pulled away, pulling the headphones out of her ears abruptly. "H-how long have you been here?" She asked, her face covered in an ugly flush. She kept her face averted from him.

"Not long." He said evenly. "My friend's boyfriend showed up and they've staked claim over the room." He scowled towards the door. "I got sick of having to endure them making out, so I left." He slumped at a table and drug a black, leather bound book from his bag, slapping it on the table. "Don't worry, I wont interrupt." He said, pulling out a box of pencils.

She watched him flip open the book and rest his sneaker clad feet on a chair, snagging a pencil. Kagome was at a loss. This boy who had been just as rude as you please on the beach had just given her an unexpected assist. They didn't know each other, but again she could see that isolation that choked her as well. She swallowed hard, moving towards the table. She sat down, rubbing her feet. "Thank you." She said softly, unable to look at him as she said it. She heard him grunt in a non-committal way. "I'm Kagome." She offered her hand, a little shy.

He blinked, looking up. For the second time that day with this girl, that option of being 'normal' or being 'him' came up. He chose the middle ground. "Inuyasha." He tossed his name out without taking her hand, then returned his attention to the book before him.

She watched him in silence for several minutes, then stood again, slipping the head phones into her ears once again, surrendering herself to the music now that the burning in her feet had gone down to a dull throb. Her mind and eyes, however, remained on the almost painfully attractive man at the table. His silver hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. His skin was almost too dark for the color of his hair and eyes. The black t-shirt that he wore hugged every muscle in a sinfully sexy way.

Little did she know, the hanyou at the table was in a similar situation. He periodically glanced up at her, his pencil flying across the paper. When his first sketch was done, he moved on to another, then another. She was a good subject. She had an inner light that he'd rarely seen, and she didn't seem to mind his partial scrutiny.

Before he knew it, his watch beeped, alerting him that it was time for him to meet his friend for dinner and he glanced up. The girl was still lost in her own world. He tore one of the sketches from the book and rested it on the table near her shoes. On it, he simply wrote _"You're welcome."_

Kagome yelped when the light in the room clicked on over her head, almost too bright after the near darkness she'd been in before. She jerked the headphones from her ears and found one of her keepers looking at her, a stern expression on his face. She sighed, looking away.

"Your mother says dinner's ready." The demon sniffed the air and frowned a bit. "Were you alone in here?" There was a suspicious twinge in his voice.

She walked towards the table, not answering the query. Instead, she changed the subject. "Has she gone atomic yet?" She asked, checking her watch. She was supposed to be back two hours ago. Funny how you forget these things when you're trying to forget everything.

A piece of paper caught her attention and she turned it towards her, looking down at it, her eyes widening. It was a picture of her, a peaceful expression on her face, hair dancing around her. Down in the corner, a small answer to her thank you was written. A small smile turned up the corner of her lips and she grabbed her shoes, slipping them onto her feet. She picked up the sketch next and rolled it carefully.

"Miss Higurashi..."

She spun towards him, smiling brightly. "Come on, Sesshoumaru-san. Before mom blows a gasket."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Sango looked up as her best friend walked into the hotel restaurant. He had his sketch book tucked under one arm and she could see the weight of his pencil case in a cargo pocket. He looked unusually comfortable in the public setting, his hair pulled off his neck in a low pony tail. When he spotted her, a slight smirk turned up the corners of his mouth.

"Wow, you actually untangled yourselves long enough to go to dinner." He said, sliding into a chair across the table and setting his book on the chair next to him. He eyed her boyfriend, and leaned back a bit. "Hey, Miroku."

Miroku scratched the back of his head. "Eheheheh..."

Miroku Takashi was her on again, off again boyfriend, due to his persistently wandering hands and bad habit with letting them wander towards someone besides her when they were dating. She never admitted it, but she loved the lech, and it hurt whenever he was 'unfaithful'. As a result, they'd spent the past few years breaking up and getting together approximately twenty-three times at last count.

"So, while we were...tangled..." Sango eyed Inuyasha suspiciously. "How did you entertain yourself? Go down to the beach?" She knew better, but her friend was in strangely good spirits, and she couldn't for the life of her think of what might have adjusted his disposition.

He eyed her just as suspiciously. "No. Found a dark room and did some sketching." He opened the menu, holding it up to hide the slight blush he felt staining his cheeks.

"You were sketching in a dark room...?" Miroku sounded skeptical.

Inuyasha squirmed.

"Can I see?" Sango started reaching for the sketchbook, startled when Inuyasha slammed his hand down on top of it, stopping her from moving it. The tables nearby glanced nervously at the hanyou who looked like his blood pressure was about to go through the roof. She swore she could see smoke coming from his ears. "It's not the first time I've peeked..." She pouted.

He swallowed, glancing towards his friend. If he didn't show her, she'd find out eventually, but if he let her see after the fuss he'd just instinctively made, she'd know something was up with him. He glared at her, lifting his hand. "Don't say a word." He snarled. "And your boyfriend better keep his nose out of it if he wants to keep it."

Miroku gulped and Sango grinned, pulling the book from the chair and into her lap. She flipped to the marked page and stared. Sketch after sketch of a girl. She glanced towards her friend and saw him looking pointedly at the menu. "Um-"

"Not a word." He snapped. Sango knew him. He drew strangers once. He drew friends more than once. The only girl he'd ever drawn before was her. And he'd never filled this many pages in a row with her face. He made his dinner selection and when he looked up, he saw Sango looking at him over the edge of the book. "You done?" He glared at her, holding his hand out.

The body language was clear. It said 'give me back the damn book'.

She closed it and handed it back to him. "We're going to talk about it later." She said calmly.

"Fine." His voice was clipped. Suddenly, he went somewhere between flushed and pale and picked up his menu, burying his face in it. That was not a face that was synonymous with digestion. In fact, it kinda made him want to throw up, whether or not he'd eaten recently.

Sango glanced over her shoulder and hissed.

Miroku did the same and tried to duck farther into his chair.

Naraku and Onigumo Kuroshii were walking into the dining room.

"If we're quick, we might be able to escape notice..." Sango whispered, resting a hand on his. "We haven't ordered yet..."

He swallowed hard, fisting his hands. "I can't run from those creeps for the rest of my life. If they come towards us, we can just ignore them." He sensed the man's oily gaze on him and looked at his menu, pretending he didn't feel the man's eyes. When the gaze left him, he looked up, finding himself staring at the lowered face of the girl he'd met twice that day. His face would have lit up, but he saw the woman standing beside her ushering her towards the table Naraku was sitting at.

Just then, a waiter came by, taking their order. Next, he whisked over towards Kagome's table.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Kagome took the forced chair beside Onigumo's and found that from where she sat she had a pretty good view of the other diners. Including the boy called Inuyasha. She tuned out the conversation and reached into her pocket, where she'd shoved the sketch prior to coming down to the meal.

More than once during the meal, she found her eyes drawn to the attractive young man, and several times she had to suppress the urge to blush when she found his eyes on her. Desperately, she wished she could leave this table and it's oily occupants and move to that one, where the people in her peer group, who were laughing and where HE was.

She was getting sick of the oily sound of the man's voice and she glanced towards her mother, who was wearing a remarkably calm expression. Yet, she caught that same flicker of annoyance she was feeling in her mother's eyes. "Mom, I have to go to the powder room." She said softly, leaning towards the older woman and away from the man's son.

Her mother nodded shortly. "Don't be long."

Kagome nodded, standing up. She saw Inuyasha watching her as she stood up and she averted her gaze briefly, heading towards the powder rooms. She glanced back towards him once she was clear of the table and saw he was saying something to the others at the table he was with. She ducked into the corridor and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes, rubbing her temples.

"You look like hell."

She looked up, startled. "You need to stop sneaking up on me." She chastised, relaxing. She watched as he leaned against the wall beside her. "Friends of yours?" She asked, gesturing to the dining area.

"Yeah. You?" His eyes flicked towards the entrance.

She gagged. "Yeah, right. My mom's opponent is more likely." She shuddered. "His son likens himself as my boyfriend. As if." She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest and sulking.

"Sounds like you don't care for the company." He smirked. "If they're such creeps, why are you having dinner with them?"

She scowled at him. "My mom's throwing a cotillion for me. More like forcing me to go. I unfortunately, and quite due to an archaic law written about a million years ago, need an escort who knows how to dance." She sighed, lacing her hands in front of her. "I hate the whole idea but mom is insisting."

He'd never heard of a cotillion, but from the look on her face, it might as well have been her execution. "That sucks." He admitted. "So you called him your mom's opponent? They work in the same business or something?"

"Or something." She admitted. She glanced towards him. "My mom's running for President. Mr. Kuroshii is in the Republican party. My mom's an Independent. We have a snowball's chance in hell, but-"

"Wait, your mom's Kimiko Higurashi?" He stared at her, startled. He glanced away. "Wow..."

She saw a strange expression on his averted face. "It sucks." She said bluntly. "Ever since she started with politics I hardly ever see her. I'm like part of her campaign strategy, and it pisses me off. I want my mom back." When he looked back at her, she was startled to see sympathy on his face. "You know the feeling?"

"Well enough." He said quietly. He glanced around her and gestured. "I'd better go, my friends are getting suspicious." He smirked. "Might have something to do with my inability to use public bathrooms."

She grabbed his sleeve as he started walking away. "Inuyasha-" she blushed a bit. "Thanks."

He smirked, ducking out of the alcove. He didn't say anything, as usual, just grinned, heading back for his table.

Kagome ducked into the bathroom and washed her hands, then headed back to her table. She managed to keep herself from looking towards Inuyasha's table as she walked past it. It was difficult. She managed to keep from gagging when Onigumo held out her chair. "Thank you." She managed to bite out, then discreetly scooted closer towards her mother.

"So what's the platform you're running on?" Naraku asked, leaning towards her mother. The look on his face made her distinctly uncomfortable.

She only just managed to keep from snapping at him to keep work away from the dinner tale.

Kimiko smiled secretively. "Now, Naraku, if I told you that, it wouldn't be a secret now would it? I can't lose my edge by telling you something like that..." She sliced into her steak and took a bite, her eyes glancing towards her silent daughter. The look on the girl's face almost made her throat close around the steak.

There was a look of frustration on her face, she was pushing her food around her plate, looking both nauseous and angry. "Kagome, are you alright?"

"You promised, mom." She said shortly. Her fist tightened around her fork. She looked towards the older woman. "No work. Not today." Her chest hurt. Couldn't her mother even keep this promise to her? She set the fork on the table carefully. She saw the contrition on her mother's face and thought about leaving right then and there.

She glanced towards Inuyasha's table and noticed that his friends were looking over. She dropped her eyes to her menu, just missing Inuyasha glancing towards her and chastising his friends. Hey, everybody! Look at the freak show! She wanted to shout at someone.

"I'm sorry, darling." There was a faint blush staining her mother's face. "Really, Kagome, why don't you and Onigumo go-"

Kagome slammed her hands on the table as she stood. "I have a headache. I'm going to bed." She snapped, then grabbed her purse, walking quickly towards the door. She didn't look back as she threw it open and left. As it clicked shut, she looked up, seeing the neutral expression of her handler. "I'm going back to the room." She said and let him lead her through the halls to her room, feeling the crushing loneliness settling in on her again. She reached the room and pushed the door open.

"Goodnight, Miss Higurashi. Happy Birthday."

Kagome had the strange urge to laugh insanely. She turned towards her handler and didn't bother to try hiding the tear that fell down her face. "No, it isn't." She said, disappearing into the room and closing the door behind her. Without a word, she walked to her bed and curled up on it, finding her favorite stuffed bear and curling around it, trying to stop the silent tears on her face.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

_AN: So, another chapter gone. A bit longer than last chapter, too. Yes, this story is going to have a heaping helping of DemonSaya's usual helping of angst. Please tell me what you think, I'm actually planning on trying to finish this one. Hopefully I'll keep it from becoming too cookie cutter. Next time, count on some flashbacks for our favorite hanyou and princess (LOL). Yes, you're supposed to feel a little sorry for them. Anyways, TTFN, and PLEASE if you like it, hate it, or want to strangle me with it, let me know! It's not hard. Just press that little button in the bottom corner! Love you all!_


	3. Chapter Two

_AN: Thankies to Jav-Chan, Crescent Moon, future author, g2fan, Pwalefriend, Julia Harris, mysteryauthor89, and Tsukari0504 for the reviews on the previous chapters. Thanks to karshepottsoner18inuxkags4eva for putting this on favorite, to Pwalefriend, Tsukari0504, g2fan, and kasandra16 for putting this on alert. Thanks to the music of Yellowcard, Shakira, Fall Out Boy, and DJ Manju for their inspiration up to this point in the story. Music is my muse._

**A Modern Cinderella Story**

By: DemonSaya

Chapter Two

Inuyasha stared out the hotel window out at the rain soaked sand. He hadn't spoken much that day. It was always like that after one of the dreams. He held his sketchbook lightly in his hand, a pencil posed over the paper, motionless.

"_Get in there!"_

He shuddered. It had been more than a year since he'd had one of those dreams. In fact, the last one had been shortly after he'd left his step-father's home.

"_I don't want to see your lousy face again for the rest of the day!"_

God bless Sango. She'd taken one look at him when she'd woken up and pushed Miroku out of bed, then from the room the three of them were sharing. She knew the haunted look in his eyes. She'd been there one of those times when he'd had the dreams.

"_MOMMY! HELP ME! I'M SORRY!"_

He flinched at the memory. His mother hadn't heard him. She'd been passed out drunk in the bedroom she shared with Naraku. He'd been twelve. He'd sneaked some pudding before dinner. Naraku had thrown him into the coat closet and locked him in. He was stuck in there until midnight. It was that night when he'd learned why Mommy was 'tired' all the time.

Why sometimes his mother had seemed to be trying to hide something with the caked on make-up and long-sleeve shirts.

After Naraku beat her, she sat at the kitchen table, sobbing, drinking a bottle of vodka like it was water. He'd called to her desperately, and she opened the closet door, wrapped her arms around him and cried into his shoulder with a hopelessness that frightened him.

The strokes of the pencil weren't smooth as he started to sketch. He could feel the emotion welling inside him as he drew the woman who'd loved him for the first half of his life, who had taken the easy escape four years after Naraku began his abuse on him. Her face was back-lit, tears shining in her eyes. It was something he had never forgotten. Something he would never forget.

Her once lustrous, beautiful black hair was matted from lack of care, her face covered with old and fresh bruises, her lip swollen and bleeding from being back-handed.

She was still his beautiful mother, despite the lack of proper care she'd received.

His feelings were reflected well in the portrait he made. It was raw, emotional, and cut him to the quick to draw it. It was another of the thousands he'd drawn in the past four years since she took her own life. He'd never really considered it suicide, though. She had killed herself, but Naraku might as well have held the gun to her head, himself.

Izayoi had been a strong woman. She'd had to be. She was the widow of a powerful demon. Until she met Naraku and had been poisoned by him, she'd been strong. Naraku had a way of turning what should have been one of the most powerful business women in the city into a needy, reliant, desperate to please child. The man was poison.

His son was just as bad.

It truly disgusted him to see Naraku and Onigumo wooing the two Higurashi women. He could see they were strong women, but strong, single women had been fooled before. Children needing the important 'father' figure, and there's Naraku, so convenient, with a child nearly the same age, waiting to swoop in on the unsuspecting, successful woman and mentally rape her so badly she's only a shell of the woman she once was.

He'd had no choice but to watch it happen to his mother.

After all, who listens to a ten year old who notices his mother is wearing a sun-glasses when it's cloudy and a long-sleeve shirt when it's 100 degrees out side.

When the picture was done, he sighed, staring down at the woman who'd birthed him. "Mom..." He said, lightly touching the tear-stained face of the woman. When he looked up at the glass, he was able to convince himself that tears weren't on his face as well.

That it was just rain on the window.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

What a way to spend the last weekend before school started back.

Kagome stared out the window, her chin in her hand. When her mother had returned the night before, the older woman had apologized profusely, then tried to pull her into conversation about the cotillion her mother insisted she have. Idly, she wondered if it would have been as big a deal if her mother wasn't a politician. She'd refused to go with Onigumo. That left Hojo.

She sighed, wishing there she could find someone else, who actually wasn't a complete jerk, or a complete sap.

Gold eyes popped into her mind, but she scratched the idea from her mind. He wasn't interested in her. They probably wouldn't run into each other any time soon. If they ever saw each other again. After all, it was Sunday, she'd be going back to her home in D.C., back to her desperately boring life, back to the school which she, Hojo, and her smattering of equally wealthy 'friends' lived.

She heard her mother climb into the car beside her and she sighed. Sesshoumaru climbed into the car after them, closing the door on the reporters that were clamoring to speak to the older Higurashi woman.

"I saw Kagome dancing on the beach with a boy."

Everyone in the car's head whipped towards the boy on the seat beside her, Kagome's included. Souta Higurashi's head was buried into his Nintendo DS, moving unerringly through some video game or another. He didn't even glance up at the sudden silence.

Kagome huffed. "It was my birthday, and my party. It's not like I brought him up to the room and had sex with him or anything." She snapped, looking back out the window.

"You met a boy?" Her mother sounded calm, but it was always difficult to tell with her. "What's he like?"

She sighed, giving her brother a death glare. "Out of all the other boy's I've met the past week, he was the most tolerable." She snapped, then looked at her mother. "And he was a hell of a lot more pleasant than that creep Onigumo."

There was a sound that reminded Kagome of a snort. It came from Sesshoumaru's direction. Everyone glanced towards him suspiciously while he punched something into his Blackberry. "Something you care to add, Fluffy?" Kagome asked, glaring at him.

He arched an eyebrow at her. "Not a thing." He said calmly.

Her handler was an odd character. He worked for the Secret Service, and acted as his mother's body guard for the past three or four years. They knew next to nothing about his personal life. His boss, however, had said he was 'the best'. Kagome didn't doubt that. What he was 'the best' at, however, was something she was pretty sure she didn't want to know.

Kagome eyed her handler, hearing her mother talking without hearing what she was saying. Her brother was making a few snide comments, but she tuned him out as well. There were some startling similarities between her handler and the boy called Inuyasha. Neither of them was particularly big on 'conversation'. Come to think of it, in the several years she'd known Sesshoumaru, they'd only said a handful of things to each other.

She reached into her bag, pulling out her mp3 player, startled when her mother spoke her name. She jumped, dropped her player, doing a mad dash to catch it as it slid across the floor of the limousine. When she hopped back into her seat, all eyes were on her. "What?" She asked, trying to get her mind back on the topic.

"I was thinking about contacting the Virginia State Orchestra to perform for your cotillion." Her mother was punching away at her own Blackberry. The woman lifted her gaze. "How does that sound?"

An answer came flying out of her mouth before she could stop it. "Like about as much fun as mud wrestling a gorilla."

Sesshoumaru rubbed the bridge of his nose. Her mother stared at her, stunned. Souta snickered.

Kagome blushed.

Kimiko Higurashi set down the Blackberry and looked pointedly at her daughter. "Do you have a better suggestion?" She asked. "An orchestra that would be less boring?"

The girl squirmed. "I suppose not." She said, looking out the window. "Whatever you want to do, Mother. This is your show." She huffed, sticking her headphones into her ears and started blaring her music, tuning out the rest of the drive.

Her life was no longer her own. Like she said, this was her mother's show. It was her responsibility to sit back and be the quiet, perfect little daughter that never did anything wrong.

Too bad that wasn't her, right?

As Yellowcard blared through her headphones, she looked back over the past few years, since her father had left them. That's right, this was his fault. His fault that she didn't have a father, his fault that she didn't have a mother anymore either.

If she was in her bedroom, she'd indulge in a little temper tantrum, throw some of her more expensive things against the wall, letting them break. She fingered the long, wavy hair that fell over her shoulder and sighed. She needed to get out of here. What she wouldn't give to be able to run away and have a real life. To go anywhere and do anything she wanted.

To escape the hated cotillion, the despised boys who thought that this made her their girl. She was no one's girl. She belonged to no one.

God, to meet someone who wouldn't judge her. She closed her eyes, letting it rest against the window, faking sleep. When she did, a face smirked back at her. Gold eyes, silver hair, and cute little puppy ears. Her hands flexed a bit as she imagined the feel of that silky looking fur between her fingers. His mouth had the slightest pout to it, the lips seeming too full to belong to a boy. He was the first boy she'd ever met who didn't treat her like an object.

She was certain that's all the Kuroshii men saw when they looked at women.

With a sigh, she allowed herself to indulge in a little girlish fantasy, seeing the boy dressed in a suit, at the cotillion. His warm, rough hand was around hers, his other at her waist. Waltz seemed a tad too tame, but a Tango...

"What the hell is she smiling about?" Souta wondered aloud, looking at the dopey grin on his sister's face.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Monday mornings sucked.

Inuyasha watched from a dark corner as the students began arriving at the school. The girls were giggling, pointing at various boys, gossiping about what had happened over their summer break. He managed to keep under the radar, just barely. He had his hair stuffed under his uniform cap, the rather faded olive drab green uniform covering his cheep clothes.

He looked like every other janitor at the school. Just younger. His ears twitched beneath the hat, longing for freedom. Yet, he knew better than to take the cap off, even for a moment.

Last time, he'd been very nearly mobbed by the Private School's female population.

The laughter of the teens washed over him, verging on annoying the crap out of him. Due to his mood the day before, they'd left the hotel late. Leaving late meant getting home late. Getting home late meant getting to bed late.

Add an early morning, and it equaled on really peevish hanyou.

He leaned against his cart, watching the students rush towards their classes. His sketchbook and pencil were tucked amongst the cleaners, pencils hidden in a deep cargo pocket. He had tried to draw that morning, but found his mood too sour to eek out anything.

A student ran into him and kept walking. He was about to get ugly with them, when a familiar scent wafted under his nose, noticeable above the scent of the cleaners and his head whipped up. Glancing down, he saw a folded piece of paper that looked startlingly well loved. He picked it up and sighed. As he unfolded it, he found it was the sketch he'd drawn for her that afternoon at the beach.

His eyes widened and he looked after her. He watched her open her locker and toss her bag in it, looking tired, a bit frustrated, and extremely annoyed. Three girls were standing around her, gushing about something with enthusiasm. Their cheerfulness made him want to projectile vomit right there in the hallway. Desperately, he wished he could hear over the noise in the hall to understand what they were talking about.

Suddenly, they were pointing towards him and he dropped his gaze and stuffed the paper in his pocket, pushing the cart in the opposite direction the girl was in. He wasn't about to let her see him like this. He turned around the corner and pulled the paper out of his pocket, carefully folding it. When he returned it to his pocket, he scrubbed his face with his hands.

Never before, in the time he'd been working this job, had he ever been ashamed of his chosen profession. Now, the thought of being seen by that girl had him running, hiding his face. He didn't want her to know he scrubbed toilets and picked up trash for a living. She was practically American royalty. Her family had money. He didn't.

He shook himself, heading towards the janitor's 'offices'. In reality, it was like a locker room with a small desk in the corner. But it was quiet, and he could count on not being disturbed there. When the final bell rang, he breathed a sigh of relief. Resting against his locker, he pulled the paper from his pocket and pressed it lightly against his nose.

It smelled like her.

The day drug on, him periodically being called from the 'office' to go clean up a spill or some kind or another. Usually the things the other janitors though they were 'too good' for. Like vomit.

On one particular trip, he found himself cleaning a dropped coke product near Kagome's locker and not a second after he began mopping up the spill, the girl arrived at her locker and began pulling stuff out, sniffling, sounding like she'd spent awhile crying. "Where is it, where is it?!" She found her bag and dug through it desperately, looking really upset.

"Lose something?" He asked, then wanted to kick himself. Why the hell couldn't he keep his mouth shut?! He quickly returned his gaze to the floor he was mopping.

She looked back at him and he kept his gaze focused on the spill. "Yeah..." She sighed, looking at the mess she'd made. "Looks like it." She plunged her hands into her dark hair and looked like she wanted to pull it out by the root. "Dammit! It probably got thrown out by someone!" She started throwing her belongings carelessly back in the locker, wearing a sad, yet angry expression.

"What's missing? School book?" She was talking to him? He was just a janitor! But he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She blushed, looking at the floor. "It was a picture." She said softly. "Someone drew me a picture." She slammed her locker shut and stormed away, seeming really upset.

He watched her go, his lips turning up into a smile. He usually kept his sketches, but he'd given one to her. It really was hers. With a grin, he pulled it out of his pocket and wrote a quick note to her on the outward facing fold, then slipped it into the crack of her locker, where it would be easily seen.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Kagome was really depressed the rest of the day. That picture had been keeping her spirits up, it reminded her that not all men were completely daft or completely stupid. Now that it was gone, she had to coach herself that she had in fact met the boy that weekend. As the final bell of the day rung, she trudged towards her locker, trying to ignore the friends that were trying to cheer her up.

Dealing with Hojo without the comforting crinkle of paper in her pocket was especially trying. She'd bombed her math test as well. It seemed misplacing something that to her was precious had completely thrown her off for the entire day.

She reached her locker and looked at it, then blinked. There was a folded piece of paper stuck into the door. It was a bit yellowed and looked a bit mangled, but she pulled it from the door and looked down at it. Familiar handwriting stared up at her from the paper.

_Hey, dummy, next time, keep it somewhere safe! _

_-Inuyasha_

She stared down at it in shock. Then, a happy smile turned up the corners of her lips. This meant he was HERE. At her school! She looked around, but couldn't see him.

"Kagome, what's that?" Ayumi asked, leaning over her shoulder.

Yuka looked down at the page and frowned. "Who's Inuyasha?"

Eri snorted. "Like he should call you a dummy. He must not know who you are, or how important your mother is..."

Kagome unfolded the paper and smiled down at the sketch. The first note was a little smudged, but the picture caused her to smile. "He's someone very special." She said, then slipped the paper into her notebook, and looked around again. At least she knew he was close. Even if she didn't know where.

The janitor watched from across the hall, a slight smirk turning up the corner of his lips. Funny how a day that started so bad could end on such a great note...He glanced back down at the puddle of bile he was mopping up and frowned. Well, maybe not so great...

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"So, what's the deal with the girl in your sketchbook?" Sango asked over a greasy slice of pizza. Her black hair looked as though it had endured hours under a crimping iron. She'd also used some pink hairspray to color part of it. She was dressed in a black leather jacket and pink halter, with some skin tight patent pants.

"So, you going on a date with Miroku or something?" Inuyasha glared towards his friend. She'd left him well enough alone the Sunday before, knowing his was in a bad mood. Yet, he knew when she'd arrived at his apartment with a large pizza, six-pack of coke and select 'going out' items on hand, she'd intended to get some information out of him.

"We thought we'd invite you to come clubbing with us." She glowered at him. "You at least going to tell me her name?" She sipped her coke and watched as he stewed over the question. She was going to get the information she wanted. She always did.

The hanyou sighed, dropping his pizza on the paper plate. How to go about telling his best friend the girl that occupied so many pages in his book was a Presidential candidates daughter. "I met her last weekend on the beach. You remember the concert?"

"Yeah. But you don't draw in social settings. You don't like the attention." She pointed out, grinning when he scowled at her. "I know you too well, Inuyasha. Get on with it."

He huffed. "Bite me." He snapped, draining the rest of his coke. "While you and Miroku were...doing what you and Miroku do," she had the decency to blush, "I went and found a dark, quiet room, like I said. Only it wasn't unoccupied. She was in there. She was dancing." He shrugged. Now, it was up to the point where she was expecting a name. "Her name is Kagome Higurashi." He said flatly, picking up his pizza and not looking at his friend as he took a large bite of it.

"WHAT?!" Sango pushed his shoulder. "You're bullshitting me!" She saw the awkward way he was holding himself, how he wouldn't look her in the eye. He was...blushing! "Holy crap, you're NOT bullshitting me!"

He glared at her from under his eyebrows.

She rocked back on her heals, staring at him. "You got a crush on her or something?"

The corner of his lips twitched. "Or something." He said, crushing the can and tossing it into the trash can. He could feel his friends eyes on him. "She's a student at the school I work at." He said, pushing the pizza away. "I saw her there Monday."

"Did you talk to her?!" Sango leaned forward, eager for gossip about her best friends love life. He was like her brother, and she wanted her brother happy.

He looked at her like she was daft. "Are you mental?! Of course not! If I can help it, she's never going to know that I'm a damn janitor." He picked up the paper plate and shoved it in his small fridge. He wasn't going to waste food. "I'm gonna get cleaned up."

Sango watched him go and sighed. She didn't comment about his desire to keep his profession secret. She didn't say that if the girl really liked him, the fact that he cleaned toilets for a living wouldn't put her off. She'd never known Inuyasha to be ashamed of himself, especially not the job he did to pay the bills, but this wasn't the Inuyasha she was used to. She'd never seen him really interested in a girl.

"_I'm never going to get married."_

Sango closed her eyes at the memory. They'd been sixteen years old, leaning over his mother's open casket, looking down at a woman that had once been full of life and laughter. Inuyasha had uttered those words, his face calm. He'd meant them. At that moment he'd meant them. He'd never had a relationship outside of friendship with any girl.

She'd never seen him in love.

That had always worried her. Now, she knew that he was getting lonely. She'd never thought of her friend as lonely. Despite his anti-social behavior, people still gravitated towards him. He'd never lacked for friends, despite his step-brother's attempts to ruin his life. In fact, while they were in school, social circles formed around Inuyasha all the time. Everyone tried to pick him for their team during P.E., and most people liked him, despite his introversion and dislike for social settings.

But today was Friday. Today, they would all get together with some mutual friends, go have some fun and dance, maybe sneak some beer. Tonight, she would watch him carefully, not let him slip into his normal rut of avoiding the friends he had.

When he came out of his bedroom, she looked at him, startled. He had streaked clumps of hair solid black, he was wearing one of his best pair of black jeans, and a black, button down shirt, worn decidedly out. He grabbed his wallet, which was attached to a thick steel chain and hooked it to his pants. When he looked towards her, he looked defensive. "What?"

"Damn, Yash, I haven't seen you that cleaned up in years." She teased, jumping to her feet. She tossed the remaining pizza in his refrigerator and grabbed her purse, grinning at him. "Ya look good." She said, shouldering the bag. "Now, let's go out, have some fun, dance, and try to forget some of our troubles!"

"Damn straight." He agreed, extending his arms as though he actually were a gentleman. She laughed, linking her arm through his and let him lead her from his apartment.

Club Nikkei was the hottest club in down town Baltimore in recent years. They only let the hottest spinners and bands perform there. Fortunately for their broke behinds, they were friends with the owner and the bouncer. As they walked up from Sango's car, she waved at the bouncer, a wolf demon who went by the name of Kouga. His rather beefy arms were crossed over his chest, a stern expression on his face as he stood in front of the line that waited to enter. Upon spotting the pair, a near grin turned up the corner of his mouth. "Look what the cat drug in!" He gave Sango a high five and glowered a bit at Inuyasha.

Friends though they may be, they were extremely competitive, and usually wound up at each other's throats if they spent too much time around each other. Inuyasha offered a hand, not surprised when Kouga took it. "Who's in tonight?" He asked, ignoring the sniping of the people in the line.

"DJ Manju is spinning." Kouga said, then directed the next thing at Sango. "Miroku's in the back corner." He advised as he opened the door for them.

As the pair stepped inside, Inuyasha tried to quell the urge to run for cover. Clubbing wasn't usually his idea of a good time. He wasn't comfortable with that many people around him. It triggered his claustrophobia. But Sango had gone through the trouble to drag him out of his small apartment, he couldn't leave now. The music washed over him, the lights blinded him, but he could see the bodies writhing on the dance floor. If only it was rock music. He liked techno, but he just wasn't in the mood for the repetitive beats.

They reached the table and Inuyasha found several people occupying it. Ayame and Miroku were sitting in the deepest part of the bend, drinking a beer each. Miroku's birthday had been two weeks prior, putting him at the legal drinking age. Ayame was two years older than them. At the end, with what looked like an Italian soda was Shippou, a year younger than him, and already on the verge of an electronic breakthrough. Shippou was smart. Damn smart.

When they saw him, they jumped up, giving him a pat on the back. He scowled when Shippou ruffled his hair. In the past year, Shippou had grown three inches, putting him at six foot four. A good six inches taller than Inuyasha's five foot ten. It irked him that the younger boy was taller than him.

Most of them sat, but Sango drug Miroku onto the dance floor where she began to dance, and Miroku began to gyrate wildly.

Inuyasha watched the crowd for awhile, then tapped Ayame. "I'm gonna get a drink." He said.

"Want a beer?"

He shook his head. "Better not." He didn't often imbibe in alcohol. He didn't want to get so attached to the stuff that he was a wreck, like his mother had. He slid out of the booth and headed for the bar, waiting until the bartender looked towards him. "Can I get a coke?" He slapped a five on the bar, watching as the tender took it.

"One for me too!" A slender hand slipped past him and dropped a five as well. The scent of lavender filtered up through the scent of cigarettes and cheap perfume.

He whipped his head around and found himself looking into blue eyes. She was standing close to him. How had he not noticed before. "What are you doing here?" He asked, stunned.

Kagome Higurashi smiled, grabbing her coke and hopped up on a bar stool. "Dancing." She said, spinning to face him and cracked it open. "You?"

"Hanging out..." He said, taking in her outfit.

She was wearing a dark blue shirt that had a slight sheen, and if he wasn't mistaking, was made of silk. Below that was a denim mini that he was shocked her mother let her out of the house in. On her feet were black high heals, and a small strap wrapped around her slender ankle. At her neck, she wore a Celtic Cross pendant.

"Hey!"

He shook himself out of his daze, looking back at her face. "What?"

She gave him a funny look. "You here alone?" She asked, blushing a bit. She rolled the can between her hands.

"No..." He saw her face fall a bit and shrugged, hopping up onto the stool beside her. "I'm with some friends." He grabbed his can and gestured towards where most of them were dancing. Now, he could see Kikyou had arrived, as had Kagura, Rin, and a few others he recognized. "Where the idiot is dancing." He pointed towards Miroku.

She choked a bit on her coke. "You know him? My friends were...commenting on his dancing skills..."

Inuyasha frowned. "He can't dance, but he's cool." He saw three girls looking at them from another table across the room. "That them?" He gestured with his chin.

Kagome glanced towards them and saw them coming towards her. "Yeah." She grumbled. Then, her face brightened. "Let's dance!" She set her coke on the counter and grabbed his hand.

He looked towards her and shrugged. She seemed like she was trying to get away from her friends. Who was he to argue. Besides, he'd been about to suggest that same thing. He let her drag him onto the dance floor and pulled her to a halt, dragging her towards the DJ. "Yo, give us Eurodancer!" He shouted and grinned when the DJ nodded and winked.

Kagome looked towards him as the music began, but she didn't have a lot of time to observe her partner. Before she could say a word, he began leading her through a dance. She was shocked to find that she didn't mind. She closed her eyes and let him.

Inuyasha wasn't disappointed with her as a dancing partner. He wasn't surprised though. He'd seen her dance, had danced with her before. This time, however, he was in complete control. When the dance was over, the circle that had developed around them crowded forward, led by Inuyasha's friends.

"Dude, you totally rock!" Sango threw her arms around them both. "That was freaking awesome, Yash!"

Kagome looked towards Inuyasha and smirked. "Yash?" She poked him lightly in the ribs, pleasantly surprised when he jumped, edging a bit away from her.

"She's called me that since we were in grade school." He complained. He saw her friends fighting their way towards the center of the cluster and began escorting her towards his table. "What's the deal with your friends?" He asked.

"Let me put it this way. If I have to listen one more time about how freaking perfect Hojo would be for me, I'm going to kill myself." She saw his face change instantly. It went from light and carefree to serious and she jumped when he gripped her arm. She forced a grin. "Damn, Inuyasha, I'm kidding. If I tried to kill myself, I know about six people that would finish the job for me."

He relaxed a bit, but there was a haunted expression in his eyes she didn't understand. She glanced around the table and saw Sango looking towards him, wary. She reached up and flicked one of his ears. "So, are these real or not?"

The table relaxed and Inuyasha introduced everyone, using first names. He wasn't mistaking when he saw the grateful expression on her face when he didn't announce she was a politician's daughter. They sat at the table, drinking soda's, different people taking turns getting up to dance. But after that first dance, both Inuyasha and Kagome remained in their seats talking about nothing.

The hours drug on, and Inuyasha could see that the girl was getting tired. In fact, she had taken to leaning on his shoulder, not objecting to his arm around her shoulders. "Hey, Inuyasha?" She mumbled up to him, barely discernible over the volume of the music. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

His mouth twitched. "No." He said.

"Why not?" A large yawn. "You're cute."

"Thanks." He glanced down at her. "Why, you interested or something?"

She didn't answer, but she snuggled closer into his side. "I asked you first."

He looked towards where Sango and Miroku were dancing, wrapped around each other. "I wasn't interested in dating." He admitted. "Or commitment."

"Wasn't?" She poked his ribs, grinning sleepily when he tried to squirm away. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He tilted her face up, looking down at her. "You could say I've recently developed an interest in it." He saw her face light up with a smile, and he quickly released her chin.

"Do you go to my school?" She poked him again.

"No." He answered automatically.

She sat up, frowning. "Then how did you put the sketch back in my locker?"

He flushed, realizing his error. "You could say I know someone who works there." He eyed her carefully. This was NOT when he wanted her to find out that he scrubbed the toilets and mopped up the puddles of puke that were left in the hall after mexican food day.

She grinned. "That makes sense..." Her head dropped onto his shoulder and she slid boneless into his lap.

He jumped, then realized the girl had fallen asleep. Gently, he ran his claws through her hair, watching the black waves slip silkily through his fingers. He'd known she was petite, but he'd never really noticed how small she was. She was only about five foot three, maybe a hundred five pounds. He leaned his head back, and stared at the ceiling.

He wasn't sure when he dozed off, but suddenly, a hand roughly shook him awake and he found himself staring at equally gold eyes. He went rigid and almost pushed the girl from his lap, embarrassed about being caught by his older brother, cuddling with a girl. "What the hell are you doing here?!" He whispered, his hands tightening protectively around her shoulders.

"I came to pick up my charge." Sesshoumaru pointed at the girl in his lap. "Miss Higurashi's mother wants her home."

Inuyasha saw Sesshoumaru reach for her, as though to shake her awake and he grasped his brother's wrist. "Don't tell her..." He searched his brother's eyes seeing understanding there.

"Tell her what?" Sesshoumaru asked, then tapped the girl's shoulder, waking her much more gently than he'd waken his brother. "Miss, you mother wants you home." He ushered her from the booth, watching as Kagome waved sleepily at Inuyasha, then leaned heavily on her handler.

"Fluffy, mom's too over protective. Inuyasha was just being my pillow..." She let him lead her out of the club and Inuyasha snorted.

"Fluffy?" He muttered, then decided he should probably find the rest of his friends.

Wherever they were.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

_AN: Another chapter gone, and Inuyasha and Kagome meet again. . You all knew that Inuyasha and Fluffy were going to run into each other. I don't really know where the next chapter is going to go, but the 'stupid cotillion' will be reasonably soon. But this isn't a traditional Cinderella story, and you know it isn't going to end there. LOL Anyways, you know the drill. Love it, hate it, wanna strangle me with it, let me know. It tells me if people are even reading this crap I put out._


	4. Chapter Three

_AN: My web service is down right now, so I'm going to be unable to find out who all faved or reviewed this chapter. Regardless, to those who did, thankies all. I'll try to get a proper thanks and shoutout in the next chapter._

**A Modern Cinderella Story**

By: DemonSaya

Chapter Three

Kagome smiled cheerfully as she came down to breakfast the next morning. It always freaked Souta out when his sister was so happy. She was a teenagers. Teenagers were supposed to angst constantly and yell at everyone and be generally pissy. Evidentially she enjoyed partying at that club a bit too much the night before. She even did a little spin on her tip toes just before getting into her seat.

"Kagome, you're freaking me out." Souta said, slathering jam on a slice of toast. He glared at her when she feigned ignoring him, snatching up a piece of her own and coating it in butter. "Really."

She grinned wickedly at her brother. "I'll have you know, darling brother..." She saw him gag and her smile broadened. "I think I might be in love."

Sesshoumaru, who was sitting at the bar across the room sprayed his coffee all over the front page of the newspaper. He looked at her, wearing a startled expression. He only just managed to school his expression before the kids looked towards him. Without a word, he picked up the cup and dumped it into the sink. Let them think the coffee tasted bad, and that he wasn't about to go strangle his younger brother. Love. His brother was the target of said affection. No doubt.

Considering he found them curled up like puppies at that club the night before.

This troubled him. Not for his own sake, but for the sake of the two young people involved. They were now part of very different parts of society. Naraku was Inuyasha's stepfather, and no doubt would do everything in his power to tear the young hanyou to pieces. What exactly had caused Inuyasha to give up the money their father had left them, Sesshoumaru didn't know, but he wasn't sure how Kagome would react to finding out that Inuyasha scrubbed toilets for a living.

Granted, she wasn't a shallow person, but if she was lied to...

Well, Hell hath no fury and all that.

"I'm thinking of asking him to be my escort to the cotillion." Kagome said, biting her toast.

Oh, Shit.

Sesshoumaru moved over towards the table, carrying the orange juice. It was a front so he could hear what was going on better, without having to concentrate. "How well do you know that boy, Miss Higurashi?" He asked calmly.

"Well enough to know that he didn't try anything when I fell asleep next to him." She glared at him suspiciously. "Would you prefer I had to go with Onigumo or Mr. No Personality?"

His lips twitched. No, if he had to pick someone for her, he would pick his brother. But if his brother was exposed at that cotillion, the boy would run from her. He poured her some orange juice and sat down in the chair beside her. "I want you to be certain." He said pointedly. "The less two people know, REALLY know about each other, the greater the chance for disaster."

Like what happened to his own step-mother.

Kagome was thinking about it. "Well, how am I supposed to get to know him if I don't know where to find him?" She asked, harrumphing. "I don't even have his cell phone number. I don't know his last name. How the heck am I supposed to track him down?"

_You aren't_. Sesshoumaru thought. "I'll see what I can do. You say he knows someone at your school?" _Damn right. Himself. He's a janitor there._ When she nodded, he continued. "I'll find out who. I'll tell him to contact your friend, and have him tell him you want to talk to him." He saw her face light up and he sighed. Then he looked up and his blood turned to ice.

Naraku was standing outside the front door.

Sesshoumaru could scarcely control the hatred that started boiling in his veins. He answered the door and tried to keep from decking the bastard. "Mrs. Higurashi isn't up yet." He said, ignoring the threatening way the man glowered at him.

"That's fine. I'm here to talk to Kagome."

When he tried pushing past the demon, Sesshoumaru put his hand up, pressing lightly against his chest. "I don't care if your name is Happy the Clown and this is a surprise birthday party." He said coldly. "Kagome is eating breakfast, and has a salon appointment in half an hour. She doesn't have time, and you're not getting in."

Naraku almost snarled at him. Then, the oily smile was back on his face. "My son is willing to escort her to her cotillion if she hasn't found any-"

"She has." Sesshoumaru said, then slammed the door in the hanyou's face. When he turned, Kagome was standing in the hallway, shuddering. "Miss Higurashi..."

"Every time he comes anywhere near me, I feel like I've been heaved head first into a giant spittoon..." She looked up at her keeper. "Am I the only one who feels that?"

"No." He said calmly, seeing her brother was merrily oblivious. "I know several people who feel the same way." He rested a hand on her shoulder, escorting her back to the kitchen. "Eat if you can. If not, you should go get dressed. It will look odd if you don't make your 'salon appointment'."

Kagome's eyes watered and she threw her arms around her keeper's waist. "Thanks, Fluffy."

He rested his hand lightly on the top of her head. The girl was like a sister. He was actually closer to her than to his only living blood relative. Of all the people in the Higurashi family, this little girl was the only one that it bothered him to see upset.

Souta proceeded to make mock retching noises.

Sesshoumaru frowned, entertaining a fantasy of dismembering the boy. But that, too would make his charge cry.

Dammit.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Inuyasha had made this job easy.

Sesshoumaru watched his brother sitting in the Museum of Natural History with a hard bound book and pencil in hand. The salon that his charge was at was a block up the street, and he'd left her in the hands of one of his fellow Secret Service and then called Sango. Sango explained that since it was Inuyasha's day off, he was probably wandering one of the Museums. A quick call around them tracked his wayward brother to the dinosaur exhibit.

He approached the hanyou, pleased that the hanyou was so wrapped up in what he was doing that he didn't sense the older demon. When he was less than a foot behind him, he hauled off and smacked the younger demon on the back of the head so hard he went spilling forward.

"Ouch! What the fuck-?!" Inuyasha looked down at the dinosaur skeleton he'd been sketching and spun, preparing to strangle the offending person who'd screwed up his drawing. He stopped cold.

"Precisely." Sesshoumaru said, dusting off his sleeve. Inuyasha was wearing a red t-shirt and black jeans, his hair was pulled messily up into a ponytail. The sneakers on his feet were inexpensive and worn. "Miss Higurashi wanted me to give you a message. She'd like to talk to you."

Inuyasha flushed, slamming the pencil into small case he had beside him. "Okay..." He looked away. "Why?"

Patience was never the strong point in their family and his was wearing thin. He flipped open his watch and glanced down at it. "If you wish, you can come with me and ask her yourself." He looked towards his brother and saw dread and longing mixed in equal parts. "Something wrong?"

"Uh..." Inuyasha flinched, standing. "Nothing." He grumbled. "Let's go."

They didn't say another word to each other as they walked. Yet, when they reached the salon, Sesshoumaru looked pointedly towards his brother. "You wait out here. If you don't want me to answer a lot of awkward questions about you when she gets me alone."

"Huh?"

"Very eloquent. Could you lie to her?" Sesshoumaru glared at him.

Inuyasha squirmed uncomfortably. "No." He finally admitted.

"Precisely." Sesshoumaru pushed open the door to the salon and walked inside, leaving his brother outside. His charge was sitting in the back, the stylist almost finished with the trim. "You'll charge it to the Higurashi's account?" He said as he waited at the desk. The receptionist nodded.

"Jakotsu, I'm NOT dying my hair pink, purple or green." Kagome's voice was laughing. It was a conversation she always had with her stylist. Sesshoumaru moved to the back, and when he appeared in the mirror, she jumped up, spinning. "How do I look?"

Sesshoumaru bit his lip. It had hardly changed. The corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily. "Very nice, Miss Higurashi."

She grinned. "Let's go get a drink. I want to tell you about Inuyasha."

He began gnawing on his tongue to keep from laughing or falling into a fit of hysterics. He held open the door for the energetic girl and looked around discretely for his brother. He heard the girl he was escorting squeak and turned just in time to see her start to fall over. He reached forwards, but evidentially was a hair late in rescuing her.

Someone else had beaten him to it.

"You, girl, need a new set of feet." Inuyasha said, setting her back upright. "Every time I run into you, you seem to be tripping over them."

She looked up at her rescuer and her face lit up. "Inuyasha, what are you doing here?!" She caught herself, keeping herself from throwing her arms around him. "Sesshoumaru, this is who I was just talking about!"

"I recognized the name." Sesshoumaru adjusted his sunglasses, glancing up and down the street. "You wanted a drink?"

She shuffled her feet, looking towards Inuyasha. "Sesshoumaru and I were going to get a drink, you want to come?"

He glanced towards the almost identical demon and grinned. "Sure. If Fluffy's buying." He tossed the nickname at his brother with a wicked grin. His brother glared at him but he turned his attention to the girl who he didn't seem to be able to get out of his head. "You look different, get a haircut or something?" He was rewarded when she blushed, heading after her keeper.

"Or something." She teased back. She smiled, pleased when he caught up and fell into step beside her. "What are you doing here, anyways?"

He grimaced. How to answer that? Finally he held up the sketchbook he'd tucked under his arm. "I was actually thinking about doing some sketches. You available to model?" She grinned towards him and he lost his footing, actually stumbling.

She laughed. "You say _I_ need new feet?" She caught his arm, wrapping hers through his. "You'd better hold on, or next time you might fall." She looked ahead, making sure she didn't lose sight of her keeper. After all, she didn't want to worry him.

Inuyasha ran a hand through his hair, looking down at the girl who was hugging his arm. _Too late._ He thought, grinning ruefully. She pulled him into an ice cream parlor that looked much too expensive for him. He would have hesitated, but she was a bigger lure than he was willing to tell anyone. When they were seated at a booth in the back, fortunately, but not surprisingly without windows, he picked up the menu and had to suppress the urge to wince.

Five fifty for a freaking parfait?!

Kagome chewed on a nail, glancing at her companion. "Ne, Inuyasha, do you know how to ballroom dance?" She averted her gaze at the menu when he looked up at her. She tried to remain calm, nonchalant.

He snorted. "Something like that." He agreed. What did that have to do with the ridiculously overpriced ice cream?

She looked up and blushed, lowering her gaze when theirs met. "Well, my mom is having this cotillion thing for me, and I need an escort..." She glanced back up at him and found him looking at her with an interested expression. She glanced towards her keeper and saw his back was turned discretely. "I was wondering if...if you're not too busy or anything..."

He was about to expose how clueless he was and he knew it. That didn't stop the question from coming out. "What's a cotillion?"

A snort from his brother.

Inuyasha ignored it, focusing his attention on the girl before him.

"Well..." She shifted uncomfortably. "It's kinda like a Debutante Ball...It's formally introducing a young woman into 'polite' society. It's probably going to be boring as hell, but..." She looked up at him and saw him wearing an odd expression. "I'd really like it if you could come."

He looked down at his hands. "You hardly know me." He said softly.

She blushed, then grabbed her purse. "Never mind. Forget I asked." She started scooting out of the booth, hurt and confused. She felt his hand wrap around her wrist and looked back. "Just let me go." She whispered, looking around.

"Kagome, sit down." He said, looking at the table. Just as she was seated, a waitress came buy and both placed their orders. "Why me?" He asked, finally looking at her. He looked as confused as she was.

She looked like she wanted to get up and run away. Like a rabbit, or a cornered animal, she lashed out. "How should I know?!" She wasn't about to tell him that she thought she was falling in love with someone she 'hardly knew'. "Because my other options suck!"

Sesshoumaru listened discretely to the conversation and with held another snort. She was being polite. How quaint.

Inuyasha eyed his brother's back and frowned deeply. This wasn't the place for this conversation. "Look, I don't know right now, but we're going to have to talk first. Not here." He said when she started to object. "I'll explain everything, but I can't yet." He grumpily looked towards his brother.

She realized he didn't want to talk in front of her handler and frowned slightly. "Then when do you suggest we talk? I don't have your number, I don't know where you live-"

"I'll meet you after school Monday, okay? In the gym?"

"The basketball team-"

"Doesn't have practice on Monday's." He said, looking at her level in the face. When she harrumphed grumpily, he reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. "I'll expose my shame then." He said softly, a sad feeling in his chest.

She looked at him and saw his honey-colored eyes were dark with some unspoken emotion. "Okay." She agreed. When their coke floats arrived, she picked up her spoon, eying him over the top of hers. "Whatever it is, though, it can't be _that _bad..."

He grinned at her. "I sure hope not."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Inuyasha's in love." Sango said, staring up at the stars from the roof of her apartment. Snuggled against her, his hand resting on her hip was Miroku, looking at her. "I've never seen him in love before." She admitted, looking towards him.

"You think he realizes it yet?" Miroku asked, twirling a strand of her long hair around a finger. Tonight, she'd done curls. He liked it.

She snorted. "He doesn't have a clue." She rolled towards him, resting on her elbow. "He's jumping at shadows. That girl likes him. I don't think she'll care when she finds out what he does for a living. She likes him and likes spending time with him."

"Why didn't he say her last name during the intros?" He grinned, noticing the nice view he had down her cleavage. "He think we don't recognize her?"

"I think it might have been subconsciously for her sake." Sango said, then whacked the side of his head when she realized he wasn't looking at her face. "For the love of Christ, can't you get your mind out of the gutter for two seconds?"

"Ah, ma cheri, the moon is full, the stars are bright, and you are quite beautiful tonight." He teased, cupping her chin under a finger.

"And I guess you're a poet and just didn't know it." She let him kiss her. "I'm worried about him." She finally said, when the kiss had ended.

Miroku sighed. Looks like it wasn't in his destiny tonight. "I know, darling. I know."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Kagome was a wreck for the rest of the weekend. Monday morning wasn't looking promising either, as her alarm clock failed to go off, she didn't get to eat breakfast, she was late to class, and had forgotten her good luck sketch in her other notebook. Then, low and behold, her math instructor announces a pop quiz. She was so frazzled by that point, she wasn't surprised that she failed it miserably.

By lunch, half the school had noticed, and the rest were talking about a rumor that had cropped up over the weekend that she was dating Onigumo Kuroshii. A claim she fervently denied. On the way to class after P.E., she managed to find the only wet spot on a recently mopped floor and started to go head over heals. She was ready to hit the floor but a hand caught her bicep.

A very familiar hand, with very familiar claws.

"Dammit, girl, I told you, you need new feet!"

And a very familiar voice accompanied it.

She whipped around and found herself staring at a janitor with bright gold eyes. Realization swept through her and she saw a distinct look of fear on his own face. "Inuyasha?" She whispered, shocked. He flinched. Without a word, he set her on her feet. She stared at him, students walking around them, but for her, the world stopped. "Inuyasha-"

When she started to speak, he took off running. She moved to chase him, but she saw that something had fallen to the floor when he'd started running. It was a hard bound book, half-filled with sketches. Her eyes widened and she wrapped her arms gently around the book. "Inuyasha..."

Inuyasha ran all the way out of the school. He would probably get fired for this. He didn't care. She'd seen him, even though he'd been going to tell her that after noon, she found out before he had a chance to say-

Angrily, he scrubbed his eyes and ripped the hat from his head, throwing it to the ground. He found himself on the roof of his apartment before he even realized he'd had a destination. He began pacing, stress radiating off his body. When he realized he was still in the uniform, he ripped it off of himself, standing in his civilian clothes.

The weight of his pencils lightly thudded his leg.

It was then he realized he didn't have his sketchbook.

"DAMMIT!" He shouted to the air. He slipped his hands into his hair and began to pull. "Why now...?" He fell to his knees, relishing the pain. He was supposed to meet Kagome in a little under two hours. What was the point, now? He was exposed. She knew the truth.

Silently, he grabbed the ledge and squeezed it until he felt it crumble. When he'd calmed down enough that he thought he would be able to keep from bursting into tears, he walked downstairs to his apartment. A quick call to the back verified that he could afford to take some time off. His next call was to the school. "Yeah, this is Inuyasha Akimoto. Yes, I know. I'm very sorry. I'm not feeling well. Yes, I realize." He shuddered. "I think I should take some time off, to get better."

When the call was over, he hung up slowly. He had almost three weeks of leave. He closed his eyes, leaning against the dingy wall and sliding down to the floor. He leaned his head back against it roughly, and pressed the balls of his hands against is eyes.

The ringing of his phone went ignored.

There was a pounding on his door an hour later, which he also ignored.

He wasn't in the mood for dealing with his friends today. Not even Sango.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

_AN: Wow, that was harder than I thought it would be...Sorry about the shorter chapter. Anyways, I'm probably going to have a long, drawn out angsty chapter next. Keep your tissue boxes on hand. I had a question of why anyone would not talk to a janitor. It's not that Kagome wouldn't, it's that Inuyasha is really insecure about it now. Don't worry too much, though. Love you all, and as usual, Love it, Hate it, or want to shove it forcefully down my throat, let me know 3_


	5. Chapter Four

_AN: Web still down, Sorry. I'll try to give my shout outs in the next chapter. Even though I don't know who all you are, I still love you all! Anyways, when my web access is down, you win! Double update!!  
_

**A Modern Cinderella Story**

By: DemonSaya

Chapter Four

He wasn't coming.

Kagome sat on the gym bench, fiddling with the sketchbook in her lap. She'd been there, waiting for an hour. Her heart felt heavy. She couldn't understand why he'd run from her. She twiddled her thumbs, chewing her lip, waiting anxiously regardless. The fear on his face worried her.

Did he really think that him being a janitor would bother her?

She sighed, getting tired of waiting. She cracked open the sketchbook and began flipping through it. His skill with a pencil was amazing. There were sketches of all of his friends in that book. Most of them didn't appear to realize they were being watched. There were several people she didn't know either. Lots of students from the school doing various things, and-

She reached the last bundle of sketches and stared. Page, after page, after page of her face. Her dancing, headphones in her ears, her wearing a tired expression, her looking sorry. Then, tucked in the middle was a person she'd never met, but had some startlingly familiar facial features to the boy she was waiting for. There were tears on the face, and despite it being mostly cast in shadow, she could see that there were several battered areas on her face.

Kagome ran her fingers lightly over the page and saw several places where the pencil had bled. There was so much raw emotion, it was more real than anything else in the book. Down in the corner was written a date. It was the day after they'd met. There was also something that distinctly reminded her of Asian characters. She couldn't read them, because her Japanese was rusty.

She continued to stare at that page for a long time, then slowly turned the page, expecting more pictures like that. Imagine her surprise when instead, there were more pictures of her. Her, looking frantic, digging in her locker. Her, looking resigned, head lowered. Her smiling, holding a little square to her chest. The sketch, she realized.

She flipped through the rest of the pages, finding mostly pictures of her, interspersed with random pictures. The last sketch was unfinished, but from the lines, he'd started another one of her.

Her lower lip trembled. There were more pictures of her in that book than of anyone else. Why did he spend so much time drawing her? Why did he run away from her? She closed the book, looking up, startled to find her keeper standing at the base of the stairs.

"Where is he?"

Sesshoumaru's voice was dangerous. There was painful death in that voice. Or at least some unsightly torture.

Kagome stood, hugging the sketchbook to her chest with one hand, shouldering her book bag with the other. "He couldn't make it, I guess..." She said, walking down the bleachers. Her face was sad. Discretely, she wiped her eyes, then forced a smile. "Let's go home, Fluffy." She held her keepers arm tightly as he led her from the school.

Sesshoumaru looked down at his charge, seeing the evidence of tears on her face. That book she was clinging to looked distinctly familiar as well. It looked like the book his brother had been drawing in at that museum. The hand in his pocket fisted in fury. Where the hell was he?! How dare he abandon a meeting with this girl?! He was going to-

When they got into the limousine Kagome scooted to the far end, as far away from his as possible and looked out the window. She didn't seem to want to talk. Sesshoumaru dug out his Blackberry and flipped it open. He began viciously typing in messages to himself.

_Locate Inuyasha._

_Ritualistically dismember Inuyasha._

_Kill Inuyasha._

"How was your day, Miss?" He asked in a sterile manner.

Kagome looked towards him and smiled. "A regular bowl of cherries." She lied, then rubbed her arm, looking back out the window. She could still feel the warmth of his hand on her arm. She was pretty sure it was just her imagination, but she could trace where his fingers had been. She watched the scenery passing by and sighed. "I was really looking forward to seeing him." She finally confessed. "But I wasn't expecting..." She closed her eyes, her hand fisting involuntarily around the edge of the book.

"Expecting what?" Sesshoumaru looked towards her, his eyes widening slightly. There was a sad expression on her face.

"He ran away..." She whispered. "He stopped me from falling, then ran. Like because he's a janitor I give a crap..." She bit her lip roughly. "He went yellow-bellied and ran and dropped this and didn't show up to explain anything." Tears filled her eyes and started dripping down her face. "Stupid idiot..."

Sesshoumaru moved over and rested a hand gently on her shoulder. "Inuyasha has never been good at dealing with situations like that." He realized what he said and mentally cursed.

She looked at him, startled. "What?" Then, her brain caught up. "Wait a minute, you know him?!"

He shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, you could say that."

She gave him 'the look'. One part annoyance, three parts anger. Ah, hell. "Explain."

Sesshoumaru sighed, opening the cabinet and pulling out a small, trial bottle of grand marnier. He unscrewed it and got a glass, dumping it in. He glanced towards his charge and saw her expression darkening. "Inuyasha is my half-brother. I had already grown and left the house when my father married his mother." He explained, taking a hefty drink.

"You didn't tell me." She accused.

He mentally flinched. "Well, you didn't ask, and it's not like I know him particularly well. I really wasn't interested in my father's new wife and child. I was a bit busy with school. When I met him first, he was almost five. I've seen him more in the last week than I have in the past two years." He turned the glass in his hand, looking towards her. "I didn't tell you because he asked me not to. It wasn't my place to interfere."

"When did you realize that I was interested in your brother?"

"I suspected the weekend at Virginia Beach. I wasn't certain until I saw him the other night at the night club. It's not like you said his name." He looked out the window. "I'm rather protective of my private life, Miss Higurashi. So is my brother. None of the men in my family were particularly good at sharing their secrets."

She grabbed his sleeve. "Wait, then you can get in touch with him?" She was about to burst with excitement. "Please, I really need to talk to him-"

"Let me explain something to you." He said, cutting her off. "If you push Inuyasha into talking about this before he is ready, he is going to keep running. Lay back and let his friends deal with him. I'll let him know you want to talk, but I'm not going to push him into meeting." He frowned, draining the glass. "Besides, if I go see him now, I'll kill him for making you cry."

The irritated gaze softened. She smiled and tugged lightly on a strand of hair. "Thanks, Fluffy." She said. She leaned against the side of the car. "You're like the big brother I never had."

He snorted slightly. Lucky for the big brother.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Inuyasha blared his music, scrubbing his apartment from top to bottom. He was on his second official day off from work, and still had managed to avoid talking to his friends. Cleaning kept him from the alternative, which would have undoubtedly had him fishing his own head out of the toilet.

Never before had he ever had such a fierce desire to drown his problems in a bottle of alcohol. Normally he didn't touch the stuff after what had happened to his mother.

It had been long enough he knew that Sango was starting to worry about him. He didn't really care at this point, he wanted to forget everything for a few days. He'd only left for an hour to buy a new sketchbook, which he'd very nearly already filled. He wasn't even bothering with drawing people. He was drawing emotions. Each picture was raw, and showed more of himself than any of the other sketches he'd ever done. Never before had he ever just sat down and used his pencil to visually express a rant.

He had some of his angriest rock music playing on his stereo, his windows slightly cracked to air the stench of the cleaners from the apartment. His phone rang and he ignored it, attacking his bathroom with a toothbrush and a box of arm-n-hammer.

The day he'd run from the school, he'd spent curled up on his bed, not doing anything. Yesterday, he'd gone out and bought a sketchbook to draw in. Today was cleaning. After this was done, he wasn't sure what he was going to do. Maybe he'd go and run somewhere. Maybe roof jump. He knew he'd have to leave the apartment, though. After all, if he remained, someone would find him. That meant his normal haunts were out of the question, too.

Maybe he'd get on the metro and go to China Town. Maybe Baltimore.

He methodically moved through each room in his apartment, washing every single article of clothing in the apartment, he vacuumed the mini blinds, vacuumed and swept the carpet, attacked the kitchen with another cleaning toothbrush, used a bottle of febreeze on his furniture. By the time the sun had dipped below the horizon, his phone had rung a total of twenty eight times, and his entire apartment was clean from top to bottom.

Considering he didn't own that much stuff, that was rather scary.

He collapsed on his now fresh-smelling couch and stared across the room, trying to decide what to do now. His stomach growled, reminding him he hadn't eaten since that bowl of cereal that was his breakfast. With a groan, he hauled himself off his couch and walked into the kitchen.

Just after he reached the stove, his doorbell rang, and a familiar voice rang out. "Pizza delivery!"

He debated pretending he wasn't home. But the lure of free pizza called his stomach and with a groan, he walked towards it. Peering through the peep hole, he saw Sango with a six pack and pizza from the place down the street. Miroku was behind her with a stack of DVDs. His face unwillingly relaxed and he unlocked and opened the door. "Hi." He said weakly.

They pushed past him, setting up shop on his table. He could see they were eying the room in shock and knew they had never seen this place this clean, even when he'd first moved in. "I really wasn't in the mood for company." He said softly, walking to the table and grabbing a coke. He cracked it and drained half of it before he looked back at them pointedly.

"No, but you're hungry, and food will out!" Sango teased. "Don't worry, Yash. We're not going to badger you into telling us what the heck happened and why you're not returning our calls." The _yet_ that was attached to that went unspoken, but understood.

They sat through two movies and demolished the large pizza with ease. They didn't speak until the stack had dwindled and Inuyasha had relaxed in their presence enough to feel at ease. Finally, Sango spoke to him, over her second coke. "Okay, Yash, so why have you been avoiding everyone?"

He rolled his own can between his hands. "It's about..." He fought over the lump in his throat. "Kagome." He finally finished. He drained the coke and chucked the can at the trash. It bounced off the rim, falling neatly inside. "She knows about my job now..."

"And?"

He shrugged. "We didn't exactly discuss it. She found out when I caught her...She tripped." He fiddled with a stray thread on his couch.

Sango slapped her palm to her forehead. "You ran."

He nodded.

Miroku groaned. "Why are you so upset, then?! She doesn't come across as shallow to me-"

"I'm a fucking janitor!" He shouted at them. "JA-NI-TOR!" He fisted his hands in his hair and rested his elbows on his knees. "She deserves better, and now she knows it."

Sango slapped him on the back of his head. "Inuyasha Akimoto! I'd better never hear you say something like that ever again!" She jumped to her feet and grabbed an ear between two fingers. "You're one of the best people I know, and if she can't see that, she doesn't deserve you anyways!"

He closed his eyes, lowering his head. "I'm a coward."

"I'll second that." Miroku chided.

Inuyasha sighed. "I'll fix it. I knew I'd have to eventually." He looked out the window, at the grimy street he lived on. "Just not yet." He shook his head. "I can't yet." Maybe next week he'd have the courage to do it.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Kagome lay on her bed, staring out her window, her face stained with tears. She'd waited after school every day, had even gone as far as going to the Janitor's Office to find out if he had gone as far as quitting. No, he'd just gone on an extended vacation.

Sesshoumaru had as yet been unable to track down the hanyou, as well, so there was no way to get in touch with him yet. The demon had been on a war path since Monday, whenever anyone tried to cheer her up in a stupid way, whenever Naraku came over, whenever Onigumo or Hojo showed up unannounced. He barked things at the other Secret Service agents, and was on his Blackberry almost constantly.

It was Saturday, now. Her so-called friends had bugged her the entire week about what was wrong, why she was so down. Hojo had tried 'cheering her up' with a bouquet of flowers in the middle of class. He'd only succeeded in embarrassing the crap out of her. She'd spent the rest of the day trying to explain that he was NOT her boyfriend, that she wasn't dating anyone.

The borderline tattered sketch was pinned up on her note-board. It was covered in creases, finger prints, and smudges. The edges were rough and a bit torn from being carried everywhere. She had the sketchbook held against her chest, her arms hugging it, wishing it was him.

Was she really that forgettable? Or was it like Sesshoumaru kept muttering and Inuyasha was just a coward.

Or maybe she'd seen deeper into this than he had? What if she wanted so desperately to be loved by a nice guy that she just tricked herself into being interested in him? What if she was so tired of feeling alone that she latched onto someone who didn't really want her?

She closed her eyes tightly. Thoughts that had circled her brain again and again since Monday. Her friends had invited her to go clubbing earlier that night, but she couldn't find the heart to. It wouldn't be the same without the only person she wanted to dance with now. Her lip trembled and she wiped her eyes. Damn him.

There was a light tap at her door and she sat up. "Yes?" She hid the sketchbook under her covers and looked up when someone walked into her room. It was her mother. Wariness filled her. "Yeah?"

"Honey, I was wondering if you wanted to talk about what's been bothering you-"

Kagome's face became a neutral mask. "I already have. I talked to Sesshoumaru." She saw uncertainty on her mother's face and knew the woman was unsure of herself. She saddened. "I am just dealing with some issues right now. Sesshoumaru's helping."

"Sweetie, is this about your cotillion?" The older Higurashi worried the hem of her suit, looking sad. "If you really don't want one-"

"I never wanted one." Kagome bit out. "I didn't object because I've long since realized that it's important to you." A shocked expression on her mothers face. "This is about a boy that was hopefully going to be my escort for the darn thing."

"Was?"

Kagome scowled. "Yeah, the yellow-bellie coward ran off when I found out he is a janitor." She scoffed. "As if that should matter-"

"A janitor? Your partner needs to know Ballroom dance, not just how to shake his tail-"

"Don't be an idiot, mom." Kagome pushed off her bed, walking towards her window. "I said he was a janitor. That doesn't mean he doesn't know Ballroom dancing. I've danced with him before. He's more than proficient, and I like him better than my other two options." Kagome scowled at her mother. "But what do you care? You probably wouldn't care if I couldn't stand being so close to my partner that I wanted to retch after we danced."

Kagome was shocked when her mother's hand slapped her cheek with enough force for her to feel the sting. She looked back at the woman and saw tears in her eyes.

"I do so care." The woman whispered, her face angry and sad all at the same time. "How could you say-"

The girl swallowed and lifted her hand, stopping her mother's speech. "I can, and I will. Ever since you started in politics, all Souta and I have been are over grown pawns in a game of chess, and we're both getting sick of it. I know you want to change something. That's why I didn't say this until now. But don't act like you're still our parent. We see you maybe one hour a night, usually less. You're not home on weekends, you're never there. Sesshoumaru is more like our parent now than you are." Kagome walked out of the room and to the bathroom, slamming and locking the door behind her.

She wasn't in the mood to deal with this tonight. Not at all. She had enough on her mind.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Inuyasha had just started dozing for the umpteenth time that night when there was a pounding on his door so loud, he was afraid it would wake the other tenants. Inuyasha grabbed his robe, wrapping it around himself, and staggered to the door. He peeked out of the hole and saw it was dark. How strange. The pounding started again and he quickly threw the door open. "Shit, don't break the door down-"

He was silenced by a clawed hand closing around his throat and throwing him into the apartment, and the door closed with a deadly click behind his brother. "What the hell are you doing?!" He gasped, clawing at the hand that was choking him.

"Trying to understand why the HELL you ran off last week and left that girl waiting for you." The older demon snarled, pinning the demon against the wall. "Every day after school, she waited in that gym, waited for YOU..." The pressure began to increase, and stars danced in front of Inuyasha's vision. "And you never showed up, never once, to explain yourself!"

"I...can't...breath..."

Sesshoumaru took a calming breath and dropped his brother to the floor, letting the boy recover. "She isn't able to stop crying it seems." Sesshoumaru said, his voice thick with anger. "Every day on the way home from school, she starts, and doesn't stop until she passes out at night."

Guilt hit the hanyou like a punch to the belly. He forced himself to sit upright and sighed, looking up at his brother. "I didn't know." He said. "I didn't want to know." He shook his head. "Everyone else I know, knew me when I took the job, knew _why_ I took the job-"

"Not everyone else. I don't. Father left you a sizable trust fund-"

Inuyasha laughed bitterly. "Which Naraku cleaned out the week before my eighteenth birthday, when I would have come into that money my father left me." He snorted. He heard a deep growl from the demon's throat and glanced up, glad to see the anger aimed elsewhere. "I wanted out of that house, so I left. I found this place, and got a job I knew I could do without college to help me with it. I wasn't ashamed of it until..."

Sesshoumaru sighed impatiently. "May I give you a piece of advice?"

"Whatever."

The demon straightened his suit. "Do yourself a favor. _Talk_ to her tomorrow. Everyone in that house is on edge and it's wearing on my nerves." He glared at his brother. "If you don't, the police wont find enough of you to make a positive identification of your body."

Inuyasha nodded. "I was planning on that anyways."

"Good." Sesshoumaru walked to the door, the paused, glancing back at him. "I'm going to learn the situation with your trust." He then, walked out the door, not looking back.

Inuyasha ran his hands through his hair. He glanced at the watch. Tomorrow? Hah, try today. The hanyou groaned, dragging himself off the floor and heading to the shower. It was four thirty in the morning. Had that idiot been out all night looking for him or something?

The water rushed over his head and he tried to decide a good way to start this conversation he was inevitably going to have with Kagome that afternoon. He groaned, uncertain of how to go about explaining the depth of his cowardice. _Hey, Kagome, sorry I ran off. No hard feelings-Yeah, right_. He groaned, whacking his head against the shower wall. "Dammit..."

He hadn't bared his soul to anyone in years, but he had the distinct feeling that nothing short of that would get him out of this situation and back into the girl's good graces. That meant this would be a long talk. He wasn't good at long talks. He wasn't good with talking much period. Action was something he was good at.

He hauled himself from his narrow shower and walked back to his bedroom, contemplating the dilemma. He pulled a t-shirt on over his head and some of his cheaper jeans, noting a hole had formed in the knee. He sighed, making a mental note to buy new ones and grabbed for socks, noting a hole in one of those as well.

It was shaping up to be a rather bad day.

And it hadn't even started yet.

He arrived at school and pulled on a fresh jumper and another hat, making sure all of his hair was hidden beneath it. Pulling a page out of his sketchbook, he jotted a quick note to Kagome on it and folded it up, hiding it in his pocket. Then, he started his rounds.

When they brought him near her locker, he slipped the note into the crack and moved on.

Kagome was one of the last students to trickle into the school. Her face was pale, drawn. She seemed to have permanent red circles around her eyes. Her friends were clustered around her, talking on and on about something, and yet she seemed to be ignoring every word of it. When they reached her locker, he watched her closely.

She saw the note and pulled it out. She unfolded it in a painful manner, then stuffed it into her pocket. He winced at the violent way it went in and had a distinct feeling that this was going to be more difficult than he thought.

Yet, throughout the day, he left little notes in her locker, saying I'm sorry, asking her to come by the gym after school, promising to be there.

When the end of the day rolled around, he didn't even bother getting out of his jumper. He sat on one of the benches and whipped the hat off his head, letting his hair and ears free. He waited, not expecting anything, or telling himself he didn't.

When the door to the gym opened, he looked up, finding her standing here, her hands fisted.

He jumped to his feet, holding his breath. "Kagome..." He breathed.

She didn't say anything. She just stood there for a moment, before walking into the gym and letting the door swing closed behind her.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

_AN: You all didn't really think I was going to tell you all what happened in this chapter, did you? LOL Anyways, love it, hate it, let me know 3 You guys should know what comes next._


	6. Chapter Five

_AN:_

**A Modern Cinderella Story**

By: DemonSaya

Chapter Five

"You don't know how close I came to leaving you hanging." Kagome said icily. She walked towards the benches and sat down on the far end. "You'd better have a good explanation for running off like that."

All the things Inuyasha thought he would say fled his mind so quickly, he wasn't sure what to do. Finally, he blurted. "I was scared, okay?!" He hadn't meant to shout at her. He felt cornered, like a small animal, and she was the one about to turn him into lunch. "I didn't know what else to do..."

She glared at him and stood, ready to walk out. "Wow, I actually thought you might be sorry. My mistake-"

He grabbed her wrist, desperate. "Dammit, Kagome, I'm not good at this shit!" He said, his brow furrowing in frustration. "Please..." He took an unsteady breath. "Don't go, alright? Just give me a second..."

She could see he was struggling with this. A small bit of compassion surfaced and she plopped down on the bench next to him. "You hurt me a lot, Inuyasha." She accused softly. "I thought you were my friend." She didn't want to imply more than that. "I thought we had fun. I don't care that you're a janitor, you're still Inuyasha."

He relaxed, looking towards her. He shook his head, laughing softly. "Maybe I cared." He said finally. "Maybe I didn't want you to know about this..." He gestured at the jumper. He sighed, wringing the cap in his hands and looking at the floor. "Maybe I didn't want you to know my secrets. And then, when I finally was ready to tell you, you found out-" He shook his head. "It doesn't even matter, anymore. You know."

She saw something was eating him. "Why should it? Why should it matter, Inuyasha? You're a nice person, you have more friends than I do. Being a janitor didn't throw them off-"

"I wasn't always a janitor, Kagome." He snapped, then looked away. "In fact, my father had a nice cushy trust set up for me for when I turned eighteen. Only, I turn eighteen...and find out that bastard had stole my money only a week before." He found himself sinking into his memories, the hurt, the anger, the frustration and pain resurfacing.

"What bastard?" Kagome whispered.

He glanced towards her. This could change things between them. If she knows that part of his life was spent under Naraku's fist, it could change things. But he had to tell her anyways. "When I was ten years old, my mother took the advice of some neighbors. Neighbors that seemed to think I needed a male influence in my life." He paused, sighing. "So, my mother went out, met a business man, or more accurately a con man named Naraku Kuroshii."

Kagome's eyes jumped wide, and realization flashed through her. "Wait a minute, you know Mr. Kuroshii?!" She wanted to hit him. "You didn't tell me-"

"Do you want me to finish or not?" He snapped, glaring at her. At her meek nod, he sighed. "They dated two months. Then they got married. My mom didn't notice that he had a slimy feeling soul. She was obsessed with finding me a father. So they married, and I lost my mother." He growled under his breath. "It wasn't right away, oh, no. In fact, at first, they almost seemed happy together. And then mom started wearing long-sleeve shirts all the time, and turtlenecks, and thicker make-up..."

He laughed unhappily. "I was twelve when I found out that my mom was being abused, and had become an alcoholic." He looked at his hands, not really seeing them. "About then, Naraku started in on me. The first thing he did was lock me in a closet. Then he started hitting me. My mom was upset, but she didn't know how to fight back. My real dad wasn't an abusive son of a bitch, so she never needed to learn."

"Inuyasha..." She whispered.

"I spent most of my young life fishing my mom's head out of the toilet of a morning. Till I was sixteen." A bitter smile turned up the corners of his mouth. "I came to their room one morning to do what I'd done every other day, and was shocked to find my mother in bed. I went to wake her up, but she..." His voice thickened, and his throat tried to swell closed. "She wasn't breathing...There was a bottle of pills and a bottle of whiskey beside her. She still had the razor she'd used on her wrists in her hand."

Horror filled her. She reached out, hesitating to bring him from his private hell, but needing to let him know it was okay now. If she could figure out how-

"I swore I would get away from him. I wasn't going to let him drive me to that, too. So, when I turned eighteen, I ran. It was the longest two years of my life. And then I find out that he'd taken my inheritance, money that was supposed to be mine. I left anyways. I just disappeared. Found an apartment, got this job..."

He looked at her finally. "I wasn't ashamed of what I did. Never once. It's honest work, and at least I'm trying." Inuyasha lowered his gaze again. "Never once, until I met you."

Kagome's face was wet. She reached up and scrubbed it with the back of her hands. "Why would you...why?" She whispered.

He sighed, looking back at her. "Because you make me want to be more than I am." He said, sighing. "And I don't think I can be." He laughed without humor. "Imagine the gossip columns: 'Politician's daughter and a janitor'-" He stopped, blushing, looking down. "You deserve more."

She reached up, lightly touching his face to draw his gaze back to hers. "What if I don't want more?" She said softly. She watched his eyes widen and blushed a bit. "Look, if you just want a friend, I can do that. But don't think you're going to push me away because you a janitor."

"But..."

Her lips drew into a small frown and she started to stand. "Look, if you don't, just say so." She was walking away and managed to trip on a step.

Inuyasha moved, catching her around her waist, keeping her from face planting on the hardwood floor. "Dammit, woman, you need a new pair of feet." He said softly, steadying her. He moved down a step, putting them face to face. She was blushing, looking a bit humiliated. He bit his lip, debating what to say. He wasn't good at talking. Action he could do. Action he was good at. Taking a deep breath, he put his hands on either side of her face, holding her very still, and leaned forward, kissing her lightly on the lips.

Kagome's mind went blissfully blank for the first time in days. It was a light kiss, barely more than a brushing of lips, but to her she felt like he'd knocked her end over end, and she wasn't really sure which way was up. When he pulled away, she swayed towards him, her hands fisting in the jumper. His hands caught her biceps, gently steadying her. She looked up into his eyes and found him smirking just a bit. "You are about the most insufferable jerk I've ever met." She finally whispered.

He grinned broader. He didn't answer her statement with one of his own, choosing instead to simply wrap his arms around her waist and hold her chest against his own. He licked his lips a bit, tasting her on them, and deciding that he liked it. Lightly, he nuzzled her jaw. "I don't want a friend." He finally whispered. "I want you." He pulled back and cupped her face in his hands. "Just you."

Kagome blushed, a small smile turning up the corners of her mouth. She tapped her chin, pretending to consider what he'd said. "That's fine, I guess." She said, wrapping her arms around his neck, threading her fingers through his hair. "Because it's exactly what I want from you." She whispered, resting her forehead against his, seeing his eyes smiling at her. She loved those eyes. "I have a question, though..." She pulled back and began digging through her school bag.

Inuyasha probably would have said yes to anything she'd asked at that moment. Her eyes had a flicker of mischief in them, her lips turned up in the slightest smirk. When she pulled something from her school bag and handed it to him, it took him several moments to realize it was his sketchbook.

The one that had all the pictures of her.

He lightly ran a hand over the cover and sank onto the bench beside him. "You had it? I wasn't sure where I'd lost it." He admitted. She sat beside him, her head resting on his shoulder. "Thank you." He said softly.

She smiled. "There are lots of me, in here." She teased, flipping through the pages. "But this one..." She opened it to the page with the crying woman and glanced towards him. "This isn't. Who is she, Inuyasha?"

He stared down at the page, his face serious. "Izayoi Akimoto." He said, pointing to the Kanji in the corner. "My mother." He glanced towards her. "I'd dreamed about her the night before." He said softly. "She was strong, until Naraku got a hold on her. Then she fell apart." He looked towards her. "I was worried for you and your mom when I saw the four of you at dinner. He and Onigumo were cast from the same mold. They're evil."

She grinned. "You don't need to worry about me or mom. Mom's so busy with politics, she wouldn't notice a man if he fell on top of her. And as for me..." She tugged a strand of his hair. "I have you to protect me, right?"

He puffed a bit, grinning back at her. "Damn straight."

The door to the gym opened and Sesshoumaru was standing there, a mostly deadpan expression on his face. "Miss Higurashi, your mother's going to worry."

She rolled her eyes, and looked at Inuyasha. "I guess I should go..." She stood, pulling the sketchbook from his hands and pulling out a pen. She jotted something on one of the pictures of her and handed it back to him smiling. "See ya." She kissed his cheek lightly and skipped down the steps.

Inuyasha watched her go, a small smile turning up the corners of his mouth. He opened the book and saw a series of numbers jotted onto the paper. Above it, she'd written _call me_. Her phone number, he realized. His grin broadened and he stood, going to his cart and setting the book on it, finishing his work. For once, he was actually looking forward to coming to work the next day.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

It wasn't perfect. He would have been a fool to think it was going to be. Yet, each day, they passed little notes in the crease of her wall locker, always being quite certain no one was watching them. After school ended, they'd meet in an empty classroom or the gym and she'd badger him into coming to the cotillion, something he was still drastically uncertain about. That would lead to an argument, which would lead to them making out.

But it never led to an answer.

That had been going on for weeks, now, and he still wasn't sure what to say when she asked, but he could see her patience was wearing thin. He had to give her an answer soon, and since she didn't care that he was a janitor, he'd need a good reason for his hesitance as well.

He had changed into his street clothes as soon as his work was done and stood beside her locker, waiting. As the bell rang he felt a lurch somewhere in the vicinity of his stomach when he realized he _wanted_ to go with her. He wanted more than anything to go and have a chance to rub Naraku's ego into the fact that he was with the girl that the S.O.B. had chosen for Onigumo.

He wanted to spend the night with his arms around that girl walking towards him.

He saw shock on her face, then pleasure, and instinctively he knew it was because it was the first official time they'd be seen together in public. As a couple. He watched her approach and felt an insane urge to grin. A smirk turned up the corner of his mouth when she walked up and leaned against the locker beside her own.

"I heard there was a hunk blocking my locker, but I didn't know they were talking about you." She teased lightly, pressing up onto her tiptoes and kissing his lips.

Right there.

In front of the rest of the students that were nearby.

You could have heard a pin drop in that hallway.

He nipped her lips lightly and pulled back smirking a bit. "Yeah, I decided to pick you up today, my brother's been getting that privilege and I don't really like that." He saw Kagome's friends standing behind her, gaping at him. "These your friends?"

Kagome blushed, remembering they were standing in the middle of her school hallway and the gossip mill there worked amazingly well. "Um, yeah. Inuyasha, these are Ayumi, Yuka, and Eri..." She gestured at each in turn. "Guys, this is Inuyasha...my boyfriend." She could see questions begging to spill from their lips and she slipped her arm through Inuyasha's.

"Oh, my god, is he who's taking you to the cotillion! You're so lucky!" One squealed.

Her smile faltered, and Inuyasha hugged her tighter. "Yeah, I am." He said evenly, ignoring the stunned expression on the girl's face. He nodded to them. "If you'll excuse us..."

Kagome stared at Inuyasha in shock as he drug her up the hall from her friends, taking her books from her limp hands easily. "Inuyasha...really?" She asked, her breath stuck in her throat. "You will?" There was an uncomfortable look on his face and she saw him fidgeting.

"I want to." He admitted. "I really want to. But I don't have anything I can wear to it, and to be blunt, I'm broke. I can't afford to buy a cheap suit, much less something that would look believable at something like that..." He looked away.

Her heart broke at the ashamed look on his face and she stopped, turning towards him. "You could show up in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and I wouldn't care." She said softly, cupping his face in her hands, making him look at her. "I invited you because I wanted to dance with you, not because I wanted to see how you'd look in a stupid tuxedo."

His eyes softened and he smirked. "You know that's part of it." He teased lightly, flicking her nose.

She blushed. "Okay, so maybe I've been enjoying fantasizing about it. But I really wont care. I don't care what anyone else thinks. It has to be you, or I don't want to go at all." She felt his finger under her chin and shyly looked up into his warm eyes. Her breath caught in her throat and she fisted her hands in his hair when he leaned down towards her, bringing his lips close to hers.

"I'll figure out something." He promised, watching her eyes flutter closed and his smirk broadened. "For you." He nipped her lips, then set her upright. She scowled and pouted a bit and he chucked her chin. "Your chariot awaits." He gestured with his chin at the limo his brother was climbing from and chucked her chin lightly.

She glanced towards her keeper and saw him looking pointedly away, giving the illusion of privacy. She looked up at Inuyasha and crossed her arms. "I'm not leaving until I get a proper kiss." She said firmly.

He started at her, stunned, then a broad grin turned up the corners of his lips. "Then maybe I shouldn't kiss you, because then you wont leave." He teased. He saw her jaw gape and caught the nape of her neck, dragging her into an open-mouthed kiss, stunning the off-balance girl further. He studied her mouth with his tongue and grinned when her hands fisted in his shirt once again, and a raw whimper left her throat.

"Asshole!" She whispered fiercely when he finally released her so she could breath. She saw a warm smile on his lips and flushed. "Why do you always-"

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and caressed her cheek. "Go on, before my brother decides to come over here and impose his will on us." He said, noting the way his brother was kind of looming beside the limo, obviously torn between being his brother and her keeper. When she lowered her face to hide a blush, he chucked her chin with his finger and smiled a smile that was just for her. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She smiled, and walked towards the limousine, glancing back at him before she climbed in and Sesshoumaru ducked in behind her.

None of them noticed black eyes watching the scene, or felt the fury rolling off Onigumo Kuroshii upon discovering the girl he'd been trying to make his had been stolen when he wasn't watching, by his hanyou step-brother. He would have walked over and gutted him, but his father's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Let me the hell go." Onigumo snarled in fury. "I'm going to kill him!"

Naraku watched the scene with undisguised interest. Then, a dark smile turned up his face. "There are better ways to destroy someone than murder. Ways that don't get you thrown in jail."

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_AN: Short chapter. Yeah, so short chapter again. Sorry it took me awhile. I've been working on chapters from a few other stories that need finished. Anyways, now everyone knows that she DIDN'T walk out and leave Inuyasha hanging. Ya'll know the drill: Love it, hate it, or think it's so sickeningly sweet you want to projectile vomit on the screen of your computer, let me know. C&C always welcome! Just click the little box at the bottom of your screen and drop me a line. Love, Peace, and donuts! DemonSaya_


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